Just for interest's sake, I thought I'd post  details of the fantasy Savage Worlds campaign I've been running. Perhaps this will help me remember all the details. We've currently just finished Session 4, but I'll start with preliminary world details and then go through session-by-session later..

In initial discussion the first suggestion was for supers but after there are no supers system that I really find outstanding, so we moved to the fallback option of 'generic fantasy'. We considered 3.x or Pathfinder but I'm actually a big Savage Worlds fan, as is one of the other players after using it for Dark Sun previously, and we went with that - with the option of converting over to something else if people didn't like it. 3 players at this point - 2 long-time friends from my Uni days, and one of their wives.
My normal custom is to build my own planet. My last few major campaigns were set on a converted and D&D-ized version of the Tunnels and Trolls universe, but my other gaming broke it, so, new planet time. They said 'generic' so...I came up with the following.
Insert Map

The major continent here is very much Europe, giving a few interesting character background options nationality-wise.  Following this is the text of the player's World Background document.


World Background
Durok
Durok is a kitchen sink fantasy planet. (High Fantasy -to -Sword & Sorcery)
1 sun; 2 moons; 364 day year (13 months of 28 days each)
The current year is 1261 AC,  as reckoned by the people of the kingdoms of Dale and Espanoza (both agree that this is so, by the grace of the Creator), 151 according to the kingdom of Averoigne, or about 6,531 according to the Empire of Jade (a date that is itself a heresy, according to some people). A majority of folk are human though there are also dwarves, elves, halflings, gnomes and other races. Tech is largely D&D level, though with black powder weapons also available. Magic is not tremendously rare. Three forms of ‘arcane’ magic (high magic, sorcery, and witchcraft) are practiced though the distinctions between them are not well understood by common people; divine magic also exists (priests of several different pantheons have divine magic, despite viewing each other as heretics for the most part).


The known world includes a few continents including:

*the Central Continent, holding most of the known kingdoms (see next section & map – covers an area of 400,000 square miles/1 million square kilometres (the size of Mauritania or Kazhakstan, or 10% the area of actual Europe, not including the area of the Chaos Wastes off the map).  See map (very low detail, major cities and things only).

*the Western Continent (4 weeks West). This large continent is largely dominated by an old and decadent (Greco-Roman-esque) Empire.

*the Jade Continent (2 weeks East by ship). The empire of Khitai, or Jade Empire, occupies much of the center of the continent, though it also contains the Kingdom of Indra at the near end and quite a lot of nasty barbarian steppe country (horse nomads).

*the Dark Continent (3 weeks South across the Sea of Storms). This is a jungle continent known for primitive peoples, blood-drenched altars at the summit of stepped pyramids to dark gods, and large reptilian beasts. An ancient reptilian race are also believed to live here), along with amazons and many natural wonders. The Espanozans have however begun the exploitation of the place, having conquered the city of Xanal and busied themselves bringing masses of gold and slaves back to the mainland. An island known as the ‘isle of dread’ sits midway between the central and dark continents.

The Central Continent has a fair diversity of separate kingdoms and cultures, including the following:

Dale [English/stereotypical fantasy kingdom] – near the middle of the great continent. The city of Dalehold is the capital, though the kingdom also contains the cities of Daleguard and Serentium (built near a great lake at the junction of several mountain tributaries), Westport and Daleport. While largely human, the city of Dwarrowholme, set beneath the Blue Mountain is home to quite a number of short-type races such as dwarves, gnomes and Halflings (the dwarrow have their own kings, though the mountain is within Dale’s borders). Elves here are typically from the forests beyond Averoigne. The predominant religion is the worship of the Creator, however, assorted pagan religions from elsewhere are tolerated. Slavery is illegal. Dale has a reasonably large standing army for dealing with its neighbours should this become necessary, with a few border skirmishes with the barbarians of Argyle in recent years.

Averoigne (medieval French) – situated in between Hale and Espanoza, this kingdom has a large and ornate nobility, holding to the feudal system despite having a revolution 150-odd years ago where Navarre I, overthrew the corrupt papacy that had ruled the place to become king (shifting the capital to the port-city of Esperance from the old city of Moyen). Much of Averoigne is thick forest, so the population includes quite a few elves. It has slightly complicated relations with Dale, though there has been no overt warfare for some time.

Argyl (Scotland) – a hilly and rather barbarian region containing any number of clans who are usually, though not always, too busy feuding internally to bother their neighbours.

Barovia (Eastern Europe/Ravenloft) –the valley of Barovia is a country that largely keeps to itself, a misty land of strange happenings, werewolves and worse.

Darnk(?) – darnk is generally considered the most dull of the kingdoms, - scrubby crops, scabby goats, inbred and suspicious villagers. Its most notable feature is the great Brewery in the capital of Dunwold (awful beer, but in large quantities).

Teutonia [Germany/Warhammer] –to the north of the great continent, this cold and mountainous land serves as a buffer between civilized lands and the terrors of the Chaos Wastes. It has a reputation for exporting some of the lands’ most feared mercenaries, but Teutonia itself is preoccupied largely with defending its northern border and interferes little with neighbouring lands. It reveres its first emperor as a saint.

Espanoza [Spanish] – near the southern end of the great continent, Espanoza is a fairly arid land but which has amassed significant wealth and influence due to its position as a trading centre. It grudging accepts arcane magic but frowns upon sorcery (and burns witches). It is presently ruled by a Queen, Xaviera.

The Grasslands: a barbaric region inhabited by orcs, goblins, and other savage humanoids.

At the far south of the great continent beyond Espanoza the land ends in the desert land of Shadizar. A few ancient cities are found buried in the desert, but the land has no one ruler, with a few small city-states only.  A natural harbour contains perhaps the largest city, Aghbal; ruled by a disreputable sultan it trades mainly with the piratical Northern Isles, and less commonly the Jade Continent.

After the world went out, I met with players individually to generate characters – there are a few shady goings on which I will have to avoid revealing in the thread, unfortunately.  Cast of characters is basically as follows, in order they were made. Characters were started out with 10 XP (= two advances) for a bit more capability and general studliness:

Player M. has Dr Wulff Schnelling, a Teutonian physician, something of a mad doctor type. (the quote for this from the players is “Great a doctor, we’ll need healing... ‘ to which he replied ‘I’m not that kind of doctor.’) The doctor has training in Alchemy (the variant magic type from Fantasy Companion) as well as quite good Heal skill; particularly clever and well-read, he also has the Jack of All Trades Edge, giving him a variety of obscure knowledges (in game terms, a skill default of d4 in Smarts based knowledges and the like). Flaws: Curious, Bad Eyes (minor - short sighted, requires glasses).
The doctor’s village was attacked by a necromancer who unleashed a plague, causing many of those killed to rise as undead, before taking a book kept hidden in the village’s church and leaving.
Wulff has a ‘plague doctor’ outfit which he wears if suitable to the occasion (courtesy of Assassins’ Creed).



Player D, (M’s wife) has Bellarayne, more or less a ranger (or WoW hunter).  The half-elf is a quite skilled archer with stealth and woodland survival skills, a couple of (mostly unrevealed) magical talents, and a very large tiger called Mist as a companion.  Her mother was an Amazon from the dark continent, while her father was an elf; she was raised by friends of her parents in the south of the Dalelands after her parents were (apparently) killed attempting to save her from an evil cult intending to sacrifice her. The tiger was her mother's (and has some sort of supernatural longevity due to its link with her, presumably).

Player G. has Lord Frederick von Rosenberger, a count’s son sent out into the world either to season him or because his family want to kill him off, we’re not quite sure which. With d4 Intelligence and the Clueless major hindrance, he is not the sharpest tool in the drawer (an interesting roleplaying challenge for G., one of the smartest people I know).  Frederick is also Obese, but is nonetheless a superb -you could say min/maxed-  warrior and equestrian. While his family are only somewhat related to the royal family of Rosenberg, their crest is suspiciously-verging-on-treasonously similar (an eagle, blue instead of purple),  leading to possible confusion over whether he may be a member of the royal family who also have a Frederick.
A 14-or-so year old lad called Karl acts as his squire – after having heard of accidents occurring to previous squires he has Cautious and Phobia (Frederick) as disadvantages, but Good Luck and a nearly empathic bond with the lord’s horse, letting him spend bennies (1 for Luck, 1 for Youth) on its behalf.  (The Lord’s overly wide warhorse is called Bennie, incidentally).


The idea was discussed of having rotating GMs so to facilitate this I created a GMPC of sorts as well – though he doesn’t get any special treatment.  Estaban is a quite old (Elderly disadvantage) Espanozan swashbuckler with a number of skills of a more roguish persuasion. Fitting him into the group, he’s a former adventuring companion of Lord Frederick’s father who has also been sent with him to keep him out of trouble.  
Estaban also happens to be a witch –hiding out in Teutonia in his retirement as witch powers have a number of complications which increase further south- witchcraft draws off a power source in the Shadizar desert which eventually summons witches who grow too strong to it and consumes them.


A few house rules in the game:  I’m giving Large monsters multiple wound levels without them being wild cards in place of the normal Toughness increase, and  attributes modify their matching skills directly (d4 = -1 point to the skill die roll, d10 or more = +1 point to the dice roll) as well as limiting how high they can go before being double cost. Characters  can also select a number of background skills (nonadventuring skills) equal to half their Smarts die, and I cost new skill purchases as one skill increase of an Advance rather than requiring the full Advance, i.e. the same cost later on as it is initially.

Session 1

(Missed a house rule above - we are also using d12 rolls with no wild die in place of the card draw for combat, and I just use cyclical 3E D&D initiative instead of rolling each round. No jokers.).

The first session: first sessions I usually find more difficult, since after a while the campaign picks up its own momentum and gets rolling. Integrating the PCs here is the more difficult bit; 'my' PC I've fitted in already and 2/3 others are Teutonian - I'd initially thought of starting the campaign in the Dalelands, but considering this it makes more sense to have them start near Teutonia somewhere. Bellarayne is the odd one out here, though. As a reason to have the PCs be together for a period of time and bond a ship voyage I think could be good...

End result: the PCs meet aboard an Averoignian ship, the Sandrine, headed from Rosenberg to Esperance, a trip of about 3 days or so. Lord Frederick, Karl and Estaban are already a group heading south more or less as tourists, while the doctor has followed the trail of his nemesis as far as Rosenberg and determined that he'd taken ship, probably this way. Bellarayne (and Mist the tiger!) have been working as guards on merchant vessels and have escorted a merchant to Rosenberg, but are now returning back home.

Some fairly dull narration of what the PCs see shipboard, stuff being loaded on, speak to the captain, have gear taken by a halfling porter, etc - starting with the huntress already aboard and then the noble party arriving...I'd thought of introducing another link between the PCs (Estaban sees the cat and perhaps faints, the doctor is called, he wakes up and recognises her as the daughter of someone he also has adventurer with...). However, it turns out that the party more or less immediately decide they're friends without any prodding. Lord Frederick decides he is in the market for a physician and immediately signs on the doctor, Estaban mentions he knows the huntress' parents but...the players look disbelieving at the size of the coincidence - while I'm not going to retcon it, I decide any acquaintance with her parents was at best passing. Let us never speak of this again.
 
Some roleplaying occurs where they speak to the Captain, Alain, an Averoignean;  questions are asked about how the tiger is kept fed and Karl is told to go fishing to make sure the tiger is sated so as to avoid being fed to it; the PCs make Vigour checks to see if they develop seasickness with the doctor, Lord Frederick and Karl especially all being affected (the others have been on enough sea travel before it isn't an issue). The doctor attempts to brew a 'seasickness cure' with Alchemy and succeeds, after visiting the galley to get ginger and mouldy potatoes - in the process meeting the ship's cook, Chen, originally from the Jade Continent and one of the more interesting NPCs aboard (who incidentally had a magic ring which made him ambidextrous, not that they noticed. The doctor also investigates his cooking but finds nothing especially hazardous).
(edit to add: Wulff also told Frederick and the others of the necromancer he was pursuing at this point, something I wasn't sure would happen).

The first day of travel is largely uneventful, while the next brings them past a heavily forested island where the lookout spots a beached Teutonian vessel...the doctor rolls about an 11 with his d4 Knowledge: everything and determines this to be the island of Zaran, said to be cursed in a number of reasonably contradictory sailors' tales (the island being sort of within the zone of Barovia, albeit offshore of it...). The sailors mumble superstitiously but are Persuaded by the PCs to at least approach it; the PCs load into a rowboat, narrowly avoiding capsizing when the 500-lb cat is loaded in as well, and go investigate. Inspecting the grounded Teutonian vessel shows it to be the 'Uberschnell', a merchant ship; no one is aboard though the party do find a cannon which looks functional which they decide they might as well try to take...Estaban is sent off to try to organize moving it with sailors, while they explore further. The log of Captain Helga mentions the ship took shelter from a storm here, but does not explain how everyone vanished; heavy drag marks on the top deck are found but unexplained. On the beach, the huntress finds slightly odd dragging tracks leading inland, and her and the tiger sneak ahead to investigate.

Searching finds a dropped piece of scrimshaw that looks like it may have belonged to a sailor, then confronts them with a strange sight; a burly sailor who seems to have been turned to stone across half his body and face, dragging a largely petrified leg and with his head permanently twisted to one side (as if turned to catch a glancing look at... something), and with a completely insane look in his remaining eye. He attacks...slowly...a couple of arrows bounce of his largely fossilized body, and an axe blow sinks in but only breaks some ribs, before the tiger lands a massive blow which pulps/fragments his head... his body is examined and it is confirmed that yes, he is partly fossilized with fatty tissue and outer layers petrified and joints locked by calcification.
(Game mechanically, this first fight was fairly unusual since rather than being an Extra, the former first mate of the ship was a Wild Card with the Hard-to-Kill Advantage, but with 3 (permanent) wounds already taken from petrification that gave him normal wound penalties, but also a Toughness boost on top of his already very high Vigour. Most of the arrows just bounced, while the axe forced an Incapitation roll that dropped his agility a die type).
I was half expecting them to try to capture it for medical experimentation (he would've made a great half-golem) but no. I considered requiring a Spirit roll to avoid horror, but forgot during the game).

Not at all perturbed, the party press on, finding more tracks (and spoor) from a larger-than-man-size creature - most likely an ogre - in the forest. Following the tracks some distance brings them to a hill rising up at the middle of the island, with stairs carved into it, leading up to a temple built in an archaic (Western Empire i.e. Grecian) style. They enter through the side entrance, pass through a beaded curtain, find a statue to one of the Western gods, and then a trapdoor descending into a tunnel filled with an ophidian smell. The players find an old wine cellar, then a couple of very life-like statues and (with another Knowledge roll) the doctor recalls the existence of medusae...but decide to keep exploring (there is a comment to the effect that M's Curiosity is likely going to get everyone killed ). Frederick  is fortunate to have forced Karl to polish his shield this morning. The party move on into a chamber filled with a number of statues;  the medusa (which has a snake-like lower body) attacks, missing with a tail swing; Frederick misses in part due to a -2 using-shield-as-mirror penalty; a couple of arrows hurt it slightly before the cat manages to move around into a flanking position and pounce on its tail, then rips it up. The party take poor Lilith's head and shove it in a sack. (The petrifying gaze ends up not used; game mechanically this would've inflicted permanent Wounds similar to what they guy they killed earlier had, barring magical restoration, if the damage didn't kill outright).

They find and start dragging out a large quantity of treasure (about 3000 GP worth) and a number of books, then leave. On general principles they go back and investigate the ogre tracks, finding and killing without much trouble an ogre which has its eyes sewn shut, then return to the ship; the crew finish up moving the cannon and the ship leaves.
Another day of travel and then at night, the ship sights a galley approaching them...pirates!

A large battle breaks out with the PCs, 10 generic sailors, the halfling porter, the cook Chen with two meat cleavers and their captain vs. 15 or so pirates+ two wild cards (Captain Sheridan: pegleg and Hard to Kill; his half-elven 'first mate' Adora, a sadistic one-eyed lady (No Mercy, Quick Draw; armed with whip & sabre), and an aquatic elf scout (with net and trident) . The PCs fired with their cannon (the pirates not doing likewise because they wanted the prize), but fairly ineffectually and missile fire was exchanged before they were grappled by the pirate ship, the huntress' cat moving across to the enemy ship and being engaged by the two top pirates (who manage to Shake it and, eventually, get it to retreat) while most of the crew moved across.

Cpt. Alain of the Sandrine critically fumbled and fell overboard early on, costing the PCs the benefit of his Command Edge ; Frederick gutted a number of other pirates while the doctor used an incendiary alchemical device to start a fire on the pirate ship - using a bennie to abort what would otherwise have been a critical fumble. The acquatic elf (who was in theory there to rescue Sheridan - just a logical (I thought) decision by the captain rather than a GM plot, particularly) was gutted by Frederick after being noticed sneaking up from behind. The pirates were decimated relatively quickly, with their captain ordering the grapples cut and attempting a hasty retreat and the first mate heading below decks to whip slaves into rowing harder;  the PCs decided to stop them (due mostly to bloodthirst from the doctor, and decide to save slaves from Frederick) and thwarted this. The pirate captain jumped overboard (and, due to the pegleg, is presumed eaten by sharks) while the PCs shot the half-elf first mate, although after another near-oops with explosives narrowly avoided after she attempted to disarm the doctor's alchemical-explosive-loaded crossbow with her whip, setting it off. The PCs freed a number of galley slaves who were offered places in their service, and then continued to Esperance.

As part of wrap-up for the session they (or I should say, Burlo the ship's halfling "cabin boy" and porter) handled selling of the galley for about 3000 GP, some of which was split with the ship however - a fairly low price as its galley design (slavery not being legal in Averoigne) limited its usefulness.
 
The session here is a bit linear, although there are a couple of major decision points. For one thing, they didn't need to go to the island; for another, while the pirate battle was won very decisively I wasn't sure that would be the case - as a slave ship it was quite possible that the PCs could've been captured and taken as slaves.

(Because of the possibility of them being captured, I also spent some time working out details of Blacksand as an alternate destination; in part based off the Allansian city of the same name, but on an island with black (volcanic) beaches. The city also has some City of Terrors inspired bits including sewers with traps to prevent, a flesh-grafting alchemists' tower, and a gnomish game machine in one of the taverns; it is essentially ruled by Halak Azzur, grandson of Varek Azzur, a chaos cultist. The most feared pirate is the dark elf Xaltotun the Head Taker, whose vorpal blade lets him ignore "called shot" penalties to the head 1/day. There is also a major slave market, with  Shadizar and Espanoza the main buyers).

Overall had a lot of fun, no major issues. The cat is perhaps a bit overpowered, but players are having fun; while Frederick is the most 'optimized' he wasn't unstoppable. No major damage to PCs, but SW being very swingy there were definitely places where things could have gone the other way. The doctor in particular seems to have leveraged the PCs smarts and knowledge base very efficiently; I've had to some extent allow a fairly wide interpretation of his powers and let him do a few minor effects for free since SW's powers list is very tight and combat-focussed, which probably helps, but I'm uncomfortably aware that we're pushing the magic system to its limits. As GM I'm also being slightly confused by the SW skill system occasionally, in that his free Knowledge 'skill check' at d4 could overlap a 'common knowledge' roll would've instead been made using his Smarts of d10, although the difficulty would probably have been higher. The players are interested in houseruling-down dice explosions on damage after a number of ridiculous damage rolls occurred.

After the first session, I assigned extra details and stats to the rescued galley slaves - those who want to join the PCs retinue, anyway (only one was described in any detail in the first session). I've used the standard 5 stat points/15 skill points, though as they're designed to be peons they're not very mini-maxed; all are Extras. All of them are fairly strong (Str d8).

* The doctor has picked up Martin, a Dalelands scholar who was on his way to Aghbal where the pirate galley (The Farthest Shore) picked him up; they were down there seeing if they could get a better price visiting the slave markets down there directly.
Notable stats: Str d8, Smarts d8; Edges - Brawny (from all that rowing!), Scholar. Hindrances: Curious. (he also has a little bit of stockholm syndrome regarding the dead half-elf, but oh well). Some knowledges, but useless in combat (not even a d4).

*Lord Frederick, having gotten a raise on his Persuade roll, convinced 2 rowers to join him - Imran and Ralef, two Shadizaran [Arabian] sailors;  in part I decide they want to stay together as they're friends.
-Imran has some orcish ancestry (half-orc), but hides this (Disguise skill d4, but mostly by having grown a very bushy black beard over his protruding jaw). He has some slightly suspicious skills. D6 fighting. Edges: Dirty Tricks Expert (from the SW pulp book), Hindrances - All Thumbs.
-Ralef is a former desert goatherd who was a sailor onboard a ship the pirates captured. Attractive; illiterate disadvantage. Again d6 fighting; notably high Ride skill.

Bella has picked up Josef, a tall blonde Teutonian ex-mercenary . The best fighter of the bunch he has Fighting d8; Block Edge (+1 Parry) and Disadvantage - Honourable) - he was a guard on a merchant ship that was taken, made a galley slave when he refused a place in the pirate crew. He feels indebted to the PCs, with Bella seeming to him the most trustworthy/down-to-earth of them (he's never had much love for the nobility).

Session 2

To start with after dinner (IRL) I recap the events of last session just to remind people what happened. The house rule for damage is applied - any given damage die can explode only once. NPCs are handed out; pirates are given over to the authorities, most likely for hanging.
I've worked out more details of Esperance, including a general map of the city; the city is spread out across the coast, situated at a bend in the continent that generates a sort of natural harbour. Ships come here from all over; few from Espanoza for religious reasons (the Averoigneans have been at least protestant, even frequently atheistic, since their last Pope went over to the Dark One). Designing the city I've forgotten that the player's notes make it the capital - oops (I don't actually re-read them and notice this until session 3, oops).

The players disembark and go to find a public bath (mostly to clean up the new NPCs); on the way they notice quite a few peasants wearing garlic; garlic sellers in the street tell them vampires are abroad; Wulff is incensed by the stupidity of the peasantry and attempts to convince the garlic seller that a woman is turning people to stone (this continues in the baths, where they meet a guard and do convince him of this).  The party then go gathering information;  Frederick finds caravans heading south to hire on with (the merchant mistaking him for the Prince) while the others look for the necromancer; an Espanozan man named Diego (a thieves guild member as it happens) informs them that there was an incident on the docks two weeks ago where a magical battle broke out involving someone matching the necromancers' description (bald, greyish skin, scars). The doctor and Estaban go back to the docks and find a derelict who saw the incident, who tells them that in the magical duel the other man was killed by bolts of black energy, with the perpetrator escaping from the gendarmes of the city watch in a cloud of darkness; the guards took the victim's body.  The doctor tries to detect magic at the docks (something minor enough I'm letting him try without the specific power) and finds fading necromantic energies (nothing else).
They decide to investigate the dead man's body, convincing Lord Frederick to approach the watch and then convince them there is a possible undead plague loose in the city (the doctor in full Plague Doctor gear); the guard captain takes them to the city morgue where they are met by a Dr Gerard ( a friendly man with curiously dead eyes from seeing too much, a cigarette, and a moustache) who informs them that the victim (Arturo Tremayne) was buried by his family a few days back; and his wife and his shop (a magic shop in the Street of Wonderworkers) were investigated.
The two doctors commiserate on their profession and Gerard shows them his 'vampire' collection - cadavers of victims the guards are keeping to prove they won't rise as undead. The two later ones  he identifies as dying from anemia and consumption (TB) respectively...checking the first  body which started the panic, he finds strange things; its not actually drained of blood but the intact teeth suggest a 20 year old though the corpse looks to be 70; he recalls tales of necromantic rituals used to drain the life out of people to maintain one's own vitality...

Not saying anything about this to the guard, they leave with some guards and investigate first Arturo's potions/antiques shop (still open, but they fail to get much out of the old man who keeps the shop there for him); then go to his house. Estaban gets sent elsewhere to look for clues (he decides to start with the Red Lantern district). The widow, Liselle, seems genuinely bereaved and perplexed by Arturo's death and his library is very clean; searching the place the PCs find the wine cellar and eventually a secret exit to the sewers.  They follow his tracks some distance before finding other tracks and getting distracted;  they follow these for some distance and come to a point in the sewers where the methane reaches flammable levels. Lord F. apparently has a closed lantern and decides that should reduce the risk of a flare; I roll a 6 on d6 and unfortunately, a 2d6 damage blast of flame engulfs Karl, and rolls up for damage; he fails a Vigour roll to be saveable and is crispy.
Somewhat shocked the party picks up Karl's body and continues following the tracks, the half-elf noticing something with her infravision. - which turns out to be some sort of hooded creature.  The party immediately jump on the (mostly harmless) creature, beating it up a fair bit; Karl's body animates mysteriously and is immediately hacked in two again; the doctor starts screaming about necromancers; Lord F. sits on the creature, which emits a number of weird animal noises and is interrogated - it proves to be a mongrelfolk Yggur (Iggur) which lives down here - it knows quite a bit of things in the sewers and (GM rolls) has  seen the man they are looking for , as well as having followed Arturo to his lair previously. It takes them to a ritual site in a room in the sewers near the edge of the Red Lantern district - exploring this in both directions finds a manhole near where the first 'vampire' body was dumped,  with the tiger able to find a scent trail to another exit (near where the necromancer was staying while he studied his book for a week, although they don't follow this).

They're baffled here (and also can't get their tiger out the manhole), so Yggur takes them the other way to below the merchant district, where he had followed Arturo previously. Still below the city the party find a corridor with two bodies near a locked door; on close approach these turn out to be ghouls (wounds are taken, but only from claws - no ghoul fever). Opened, the door leads into a series of rooms; They skip past another door (the lab) and touching a trapdoor with fold-out stairs which triggers a very audible alarm but (GM rolls again) the owner is out. Moving quickly they go into a large ritual chamber with a skeletal statue that a knowledge check reveals is an idol of Necrom, God of Undeath;  8 skeletons with swords step from wall  alcoves and move toward the PCs but don't pose much challenge (despite DR against arrows and such -  one get fragmented by a ridiculously high arrow damage roll anyway, another gets nailed to the wall by an arrow through the eye socket and is finished off later).
A door beyond leads into a slime-covered room, where they are attacked by a purple worm-like monster, looking something like this (albeit much smaller):

A ferocious battle breaks out where they hack into the thing, which is very strong (d12 fighting, high Toughness, 3 wounds although its not a wild card). Arrows barely injure it and even axe blows are bouncing off. Desperate, the doctor taps into some powers he's never displayed before - casting a spell which shrivels it up (reducing its Toughness), and then a bolt of horrible black necromantic energy. Given that this has probably saved his life, Lord F. decides to..overlook it..for the time being.

Saying little, the now battered party opens the next door, a plain room holding straw and a peasant girl, Yvette; she tells them there is a cult of Necrom that meets here, and that their leader Luc, whose mansion is above the hidden temple, kidnapped her for sacrifice; the PCs determine Luc doesn't match "their" necromancer's description (i.e. French with dark hair and moustache, instead of bald and Teutonian). She is asked if she would like a job as a squire and with some trepidation accepts (she's not sure exactly if the fat Lord is after her for some depraved sexual purpose, but he's clearly a man of means, she can always leave later, and they did save her life.. ).
A bit panicked at having found a whole cabal of necromancers, the PCs send the amazon back to get as many guards as possible and get them to surround the house above; I explain that its deserted and fast forward through the next bit despite some protests (its getting late).

Searching the rest of the place they find the lab and dark magic text books, as well as a number of potions; a general alarm is raised in the city and I roll some dice for various guard efforts; one roll double-exploding later Luc is brought to the PCs in the guard house, messed up but alive, by a burly bounty hunter.

He confesses everything to avoid torture, accusing several other wizards. He tells them their cult operates through many civilized lands; the man they are looking for is called Solon, and is a renegade that their Master wants destroyed. They have been able to scry his movements to some extent, thus the attack on the dock; Luk has not been told the reason why the master wants his ex-apprentice killed but they do know Solon is heading to Serentium definitely (as well as scrying, the master knows he will head to the Great Library there, as the book Solon has does not contain all the information he requires).  G. (Lord F.'s player) is satisfactorily (for the GM)  freaked out by the discovery their enemy is too evil even for the cult bwahaha.
For his cooperation, the PCs promise Luk a 'clean' death by beheading - Doctor Wulff tells Lord F. that if he has the head he 'can preserve his knowledge'.  Lord Frederick performs the decapitation on behalf of the city in public, staring unblinkingly at the doctor as his axe descends.


End session 2. Again a lot of fun; unfortunately as a mystery adventure, it did end up a bit slow for the first half, then with lots of killing packed into the second half. A few directions/options not explored - and they do have a second enemy now! - but overall a 'success'. (they didn't get eaten by a worm monster, or just leave the city and keep going; they could have perhaps bargained with the cult, although, destroying them probably counts as a moral necessity).

A fun read; thanks for posting!

Cheers

Session 3

The next day, the PCs are getting ready to leave for Serentium (the city in the dalelands just above the lake - unlabelled on the map); in all the other goings-on the caravan they'd intended to go on with has already left, but would have wagons leaving daily anyway so, this is not a major issue.
G. gets Yvette's character sheet, replacing the unfortunate Karl; her stats are largely unimpressive, although after a week of exposure to the magic of Luc's basement has triggered a sensitivity to magic (Arcane Background; Detect Magic power - d8 skill rank. She has a high Vigour (being handpicked by the cultists for juicy lifeforce) but has Short (-1 Toughness) to reflect that she's still not as resistant to damage as that Vigour score would represent.


Lord Frederick is officially announcing himself as the "Witch Hunter of Esperance" now (making Estaban uncomfortable) - despite witchcraft being a separate branch of "magic", which doesn't even have necromancers. Lord Frederick is approached by a page, who delivers him a letter:


To the Lord Frederick Rosenberger of Teutonia, warmest regards.

My lord, on behalf of the city of Esperance and the crown, I thank you and your esteemed companions for your heroism and vigilance in defense of the city.

I am informed that you may have pressing business elsewhere, however, if it so pleases you, you and your companions are cordially invited to dinner this evening at my chateau.

From the hand of Guillaume d’Essen, third of that name, Duke of Essen, Lord of Esperance.



The letter has a seal and is emblazoned with the following:



(GM Note: Doing a bit of reading into noble titles, I did run into some problems; normally a 'count' (Comte) would control a city and a Duke would rule the whole province (duchy) but Esperance is much smaller than France and basically has enough cities for one city per dukedom - and the capital really has a king, anyway. Consequently Guillaume is technically Duke of Essen (the province) and Count of Esperence, though his viscount actually handles most day-to-day affairs)

Lord F. is somewhat intimidated, his father only a Count, and the other PCs are very suspicious - asking what forces the Duke has at his command (the answer being the entire city). The Duke - realizing that even a polite request from him can be read as a demand - does seem to have gone out of his way structuring the letter to give them leeway to refuse. They decide after recalling what they can about the duke (i.e. seems OK, the usual unpopular taxes) to attend his party. The party acquire some fresh noble finery; the amazon very reluctantly is convinced to part with 10 GP for a nice dress; the doctor gets away with wearing his professional outfit, which happens to be leather armour, albeit not the beak) and get ready. They ride through the noble quarter (a few squads of guards don't bother them) and up to the duke's mansion, a large but not overly fortified three-storey affair amid a luxurious garden, built on a cliff overlooking the bay.
Guards at the gate are expecting them and one gets them the castellan, who greets them and brings them inside (after taking them to the stables).

Around the front they find a few nobles on the lawns above the cliff before heading through a lavishly decorated entry hall (suits of plate armour, pictures of the duke's ancestors) and into a guest hall, packed with nobles - the men with wigs, the women typically in low-cut gowns, all reeking with perfume; they are introduced to Duke Guillaume, dressed similarly to the others(if more expensively) ; he seems perhaps slightly less effeminate with a somewhat unfashionable short beard and a slightly burlier physique (player quote from M.: "this is because he's giving it out instead of taking it"). (They're definitely poncey by the standards of Warhammer...er, Teutonian...nobility).

He thanks them again for their services to their city and introduces them to his family and a number of other people there, including his wife Colette; his younger son Etienne (about 12); his daughter Genevieve (about 17; reasonably pretty if plumper than is convenially attractive, tight corset; seems pleasant, fans herself occasionally), Viscount Alain (runs city day-to-day affairs), Alain's wife Felice, their son (also called Alain), two visiting nobles - Gabrielle and his wife Francisca, the city's Chief Magistrate Alfonse du Pont, and (the only non-Averoignean present) a bald dark-skinned man with a gold ring in one ear, his magical adviser Anwar (of Shadizar). The tables are piled him with assorted cooked birds etc. and two halfling chefs bring in a roasted oxen - the time it takes to do one suggesting that perhaps the party has been planned anyway, before they invited the PCs.

Lots of in-character talk; the Duke tells Lord F. that given his rank he would not presume to reward him with money, but has a gift for him - he is given an axe of unfamiliar material, and guards bring out a foot-wide iron cube and is asked to try it out; after a damage roll it is cut in twain (the duke's daughter fans herself). It is checked for magic by Yvette and the doctor and none is found, but it is adamantium (Armour Piercing 4); Yvette struggles to lift it as she takes it back to the servant's table with the other minions). The PCs ask the duke for some further aid (written permissions etc.) for some further investigation, which he immediately delegates to the Chief Magistrate.
The magician Anwar seems to be staring at Bellarayne; she leaves to check on her cat and he excuses himself soon after; the doctor follows but only sees them as they conclude their conversation.

The PCs regale the duke with their accomplishments - he declines to see the medusa head but is impressed by their tale of killing pirates (a regular scourge her). The party are offered wine, cognac and schnapps (to make the Teutonians more at home). After awhile of this there is a drunken jousting incident where Alain Jnr. agrees to take on Lord F. - curious given that the 18 y.o. lad has nothing like the latter's physique (or actual fighting skill) it is clear that this will lead to annihilation. The first round results in him being knocked off the horse and unconscious, despite soaking: the combined efforts of Dr. Wulff and the Duke's own physician (a raise for 2 wounds healed) bring him around with no permanent damage. The Viscount (Alain Snr.) looks at Lord F. and while very upset; announces that he must retire early and see to his son.
The doctor also wishes to leave at this point, though the Duchess (Colette) implores the party stay; her daughter if anything seems pleased (and fans herself again, to Bellarayne's amusement). With the boy, at least, not permanently harmed, this is put down as simply an unfortunate drunken jousting accident. The lord is perhaps a bit appalled (or disgusted) by his softness, given that he'd known squires back home who would have accounted for themselves better.
Lord Frederick is asked about his family (e.g. 'do you have any older brothers'? - we roll and the answer is no, so he's the heir) and there is some discussion as to lineages and such; Lord Frederick with a not terribly good knowledge roll (and being Clueless) believes that Averoigne probably has matrilinear succession, which was established as standard in Teutonia during M.'s background setup; he concludes that marrying Genevieve would make him Duke, and he asks the Duke for permission to woo his daughter ("You don't beat around the bush do you!). The Duke gives him permission, although the party retires for the night soon after.

(There are obviously a number of behind-the-scenes factors here; note that its clear from the (correct) spelling of Rosenberger that he knows Lord F. is not Prince of Teutonia- one of the city guard having gotten a raise earlier on the heraldry roll - though they probably assume there's a  more direct connection to the royal family than actually exists).

The party go home and get their minions to stand watches for the remainder of the night, then visit the Magistrate in the morning, before going to dig up the grave of Arturo Tremayne; the doctor's henchman Martin (mostly) hauling up the coffin. To the PCs surprise there is a body; they twist his head off just to make sure he won't rise again and leave.

Bella goes off to visit a Madame Cheyelle in the Street of Wonderworkers, and is told certain things. The doctor accompanies her; he finds most of the shops on the street closed for today, with the anti-vampire panic being presently replaced by anti-wizard panic and a number of shop-owners now executed. Wulff does find one shop open, with the sign 'Gnomish Gaming Devices'; he meets a gnome who introduces himself as "Pandrogas, Master Sorcerer" - although Wullf cannot detect any magic from any devices there.The gnome mentions that his most popular creation is a variety of gambling device that resulted after he attempted to make a magical money-counting device but 'could not...er...bind the proper spirits". Asked some questions about the spirits, the gnome makes up what is clearly( to Wulff's magical knowledge) a gibberish explanation, though it seems his heart isn't in it and he gives a clear impression of not really giving a shit anymore. The doctor declines to purchase any devices but gives him a coin for information learned and leaves.

The party then join wagons leaving the city; there are 4 normal guards and a caravan master, Basil, a dwarf with an eyepatch who seems somewhat bloodthirsty.

The resulting trip to Serentium will take about 5 days (slow due to wagon), initially through forest; on about the second (IIRC) day they come across a smashed and looted wagon and several bodies filled with arrows. With the typical bloodthirst of players forced to roleplay for some time, they search for tracks and get a direction; Basil is aware of a village in that direction which could be where the bandits are lairing. They set off through the forest and after an hour or so find a hamlet with fields that are overgrown and untended, although with smoke rising from the inn. There they find four guys who look up to no good; there is a short battle with a damage roll from the tiger than I could only interpret as "eaten whole" (I think it was about 43 for damage; a pounce with a raise and then all the dice Aceing), another is eviscerated, the two left crap themselves and one drops a weapon; one is eventually taken alive and explains they were former wagon guards who left due to the crappy salary. There is talk of torturing the man; Bella's man Josef pleads with her to give him a clean death and he is taken back to the wagon, where Basil kills him with an axe ('That's what we do to bandits out here'). The party take a number of horses and 2 additional wagons that the bandits had for their own use, and press on.

The following day, the party find an elf in the road ahead of them; they initially suspect an ambush but he introduces himself as Leonas, and warns them that the road ahead is controlled by orcs; he had followed a large band of them (now down to about a dozen) from the elven forest, after they destroyed his village. He tells them they live in an old, ruined fort on a hill nearby; he also warns them he has a few times seen (and hidden from) a globe of light which he suspects somehow is used to scout for the orcs.

The party and the elf, still feeling kinda bloodthirsty, leave the caravan behind and investigate the fort, splitting into a predominantly melee group (Frederick, and the elf on his insistence, plus most of Frederick's henchmen, and a stealth group including the amazon, the cat, and a couple of others. A stealth critical fumble (among other uninspiring results) leads to someone stepping on the tiger which produces a load noise, and a globe of light about a foot across is seen briefly in one of the watch towers. The orcs inside prepare themselves for battle; Bella climbs a tree to get into better position for sniping, and an ogre rushes out (stumbling and falling however). Several men engage and kill the ogre, which after a spell and an explosive round and arrows finally takes a lance up somewhere painful; a sepulchral voice urges the orcs forward in battle in Orcish which however some of the PCs understand, telling them to fight for its glory that it might feed upon the souls of the fallen.
Orcs armed unusually with tower shields as well as axes (and fine elven bows) rush through a large crumbled gap in the fort's wall to engage the PCs. Four orcs surround the tiger and it goes down from three hits (unconscious and badly wounded) ; the weird ball of light appears and it is apparent the ghostly voice is emanating from it; it attempts to dive on Frederick but zooms past him harmlessly. A number of orcs are killed, mostly by Frederick and co but a couple by Leonas (two weapon fighting with paired shortswords); one orc wants to run, but the light-ball slams it, sending it to its knees shaken with a  blast of electricity . The orcs are all cut down; the thing manages to hit Frederick with a raise (2d8 electricity +a d6 raise), he soaks enough to not be incapacited and just manages to not fall off Bennie. Bellarayne takes aim and neatly skewers the thing with an arrow - a difficult shot, which needed an 8+ due to Improved Dodge and Size - but with a ridiculous attack and damage roll (about 23) she gets enough to one-shot it. It fails its vigour roll and there is a "nooooooo!" as it dissipates into light and drifting mist.
The doctor rushes to Fredericks' aid, remembering that one of the potions from the necromancer's lair was a healing potion - probably made by juicing someone of their life energy but he nonetheless feels much better; Bella goes to the tiger and the doctor brings it around groggily soon after. The PCs loot the orcs, finding a few things including an elven enchanted rapier, quite a few elven coins (crescent shaped and made of electrum), a vial of perfume and assorted bows and stuff.

(GM note here is that I'd always thought a will-o-the wisp would make a great NPC villain in AD&D, since they're the master race (2d8 electrical attack, AC -8, invisibility at will, flight, high intelligence) - this one, Bael, was from the marshes of Goblynponde but decided to rally some orcs (using strategic electrocution as a disciplinary measure) and led them through the elven forests so it could feed on some death and pain outside the marsh. It would probably have made an interesting recurring villain to follow the PCs but oh well - they probably have enough enemies already).


End session 3. Apart from session 1 (3 XP) I've raised xp awards to just one advance (5 xp) per session, a bit more than the recommended rate of 1-3; we agree that NPCs earn half value.

Session 4
This log brings us up to date, until there's another session anyway.
Two minor things I missed mentioning in the Session 3 recap, both armour related - one being that Bella also stopped off to get chain barding constructed for the tiger ( estimated 2 of 2 weeks to do, so they left with it incomplete); the other being that there was also a suit an elven chain shirt (+3 armour bonus total) in the orc treasure.
As is standard I recap last session to start. This session there's an extra complication - 2 new players. Player "A" is G's partner (she's been around but just playing hostess previously); Player "S" is G's brother. G. has put together characters for them - fairly well-designed, actually.
A. has Elena, a human assassin - heavily based off the main character in Assassin's Creed but female. I approve her having 2 major flaws as suiting the character (Wanted, Vengeful). She's an Espanozoan (that being the nearest equivalent to Italians, at least barring being from the ancestral Western Continent which I didn't think of and which would've been harder to explain anyway). She's very sneaky, always seems to be climbing something, and uses two weird blades I permit longsword stats for.
S. has Ehran, an elven wizard - very smart, very high magic skill. He has a couple of blasty type spells, OK melee skills, and the Wizard edge (reducing PP expenditure with a good magic roll); he's also Arrogant, Stubborn and Vengeful (minor).
 I'd been warned S. was coming and saw the character sheet) but have to rethink the introduction now there are two of them - its probably for the best, actually. For convenience I decide that they have also been sent by the elves to destroy the orcs, setting out sometime after Leonas did - Elena having been 'lying low' in the elven forest but accepted the job. It seems implausible they'd be sent alone so I arbitrary decide a number of elven warriors were also sent with them, but died along the way from an owlbear...
The two approach the fort, but (of course) too late for the battle...the elf, very self-assured (Arrogant), wanders in while the assassin hides and examines the situation. The other PCs welcome extra aid in their quest and after some discussion the two join the party ...they mount some orc heads on pikes, and Leonas bids the PCs farewell, saying he will return to the elven forest and take back the news of the orcs destruction. The PCs search the keep building itself, finding a trapdoor with a ramp leading down.
Going down they find a storeroom with largely long-ruined equipment, and a deserted series of dungeon cells. Stairs lead down further into a corridor; searching they find a secret door lever, but continue exploring the current level, with the other direction heading into a circular chamber which is largely filled with a pool of water - dug out in bygone days as the emergency 'siege' water supply for the fort. One of the PCs spots something on the ceiling - a cave fisher!



It wins initiative and ejects a sticky strand of goo to grab a PC, but misses. The party return fire with arrows and throwing knives, hitting it; the thing now hangs them unsteadily, and Frederick grabs the now-slack filament to bring it down, pulling it free. It plops down in the water and is finished off, its silk sac harvested by the doctor who recognises it as a potential ingredient in magic item construction.
Finding no other exits, they continue down the secret door, Elena dodging an arrow trap. They move down the stairs cautiously, finding a corridor leading to a concealed exit (Last session they might of course, have found this way into the cave and ambushed the orcs if they'd looked. Oh well...), and more stairs. Another trap (poison gas nozzle) is found- I'm letting the PCs use Lockpicking for trapfinding/disarming, although in retrospect Repair is perhaps closer); they disarm it successfully, blocking up the nozzle. The doctor wants to harvest it but is deterred by finding he would need to hack through stonework to get to the mechanism.
The next corridor leads through an archway to a room of coffins with inscriptions relating to a noble family; they suspect undead so Yvette is told to open a coffin, but Ralef volunteers instead. None of the bodies activate, however;  they loot assorted gold and jewelry, and one of the bodies has a fine blue cape which appears in fine condition. Magical checking determines this grants a degree of anti-magic, bestowing the Arcane Resistance Edge on the wearer; Ehran, trying it, determines his own mojo is being adversely affected by wearing it (-2 to spellcasting rolls), and it is given to Elena.
(Here's a full map - 3D view i.e. lines going at 45 degrees are going 'into' the screen. No one asked but the fort of the Marquis de Salle was at the Averoignean border, set up in case of skirmishes with the Dalelands;  it was however sacked by elves ages ago in retaliation for the last Marquis stealing away an elf-maiden, and never remanned).



The PCs exit and rejoin the wagons to continue on their way. Due to the cat being injured, Bella wants to send Josef back to hurry along the armourer/get the armour; Frederick decides to sent a love-letter to the Duke's daughter as well. Yvette is ordered to write it (she is theoretically smarter than him, albeit no wild die); Estaban decides to help, considering this his area of specialty. Josef leaves with the letter and the PCs carry on. On the wagons, the doctor and Martin brew up some form of pain elixir using willow bark.
As they leave Averoigne the forest thins out and they find themselves in the foothills of the mountains - by evening approaching a village. They stopping at an inn, and the doctor excuses himself to work on something; the other PCs talk to the innkeeper who informs them a monster has been carrying away livestock, which Ehran identifies as a wyvern (either a species of dragon or a form of true dragon 'larvae' according to some sages' theories). The PCs acquire a cow and put it in an exposed position, hoping to lure the creature, waiting in ambush; it swoops down and is promptly annihilated by multiple bolts of magic fire. They hack off the poison stinger, carry it back into town, and have a barbecue; there is merrymaking and the innkeeper takes the head to mount on the wall, promising to rename the inn to the Wyvern's End in tribute to the PCs.  The doctor chastises Lord Frederick ('a DRAGON, my lord?..can I not leave you for two hours!') ; poison is however extracted for later use (some going to Elena). Tthe doctor attempts to concoct an antivenin in case  this is useful, and is excessively successful.
The party leave in the morning and continue travelling, with the terrain becoming more lush and meadowy as they get deeper into the Dalelands. Making good time, as evening approaches they see Serentium ahead of them, built at the edge of a great lake:
(Here's the map of Serentium -  you may notice slight similarities to the Baldur's Gate map from Forgotten Realms Adventures. I have used the city in previous online campaigns incidentally, though it (and its world) hasn't been fully mapped before; I'm also advancing the timeline somewhat)



Talking to the gate guards about goings on the PCs learn that there is tension between the watch and the Alchemist's Guild - normally an ongoing thing for certain reasons, such as monsters being created in the sewers by past dumping of alchemical wastes. Apparently a break-in occurred in their laboratories -(as it happens one of the city's more important industries, making purple dye from shellfish in the lake) - with two guards found dead inside, crush by a guardian creature. The guard believe their men most likely heard noises and investigated, being killed by the monster; the alchemists believe the watch have attempted to steal from or raid them.
There has also been a recent incident where some a family of petty nobles (who were also merchants) were found murdered, with a large amount of gold/jewellery taken.
The PCs split up with Estaban and the two women going to get 'word on the street' on the murders, while Lord F., the doctor and Ehran meet the Guard Captain, a female dwarf named Ruby, and check the bodies of the guard - finding that as well as very obvious death wounds (heads entirely crushed) both also have hidden wounds which would be probably fatal - stab wounds to the back - which were missed by the guard's doctor (a healer with very little pathology expertise - he uses magic). Two other guards on patrol at the time are also missing. Concluding that the watch were deliberately framed (GM lol), the PCs and the guard captain visit the alchemists with their new information, being introduced again as the Witch Hunters of Esperance to the Guildmaster, Aloysius (who is also one of the city's ruling council). With some reluctance, Aloysius accepts their version of events.
They see the ruined remains of the automaton that crushed the guardsmen, a Hammerer - now broken and with the claw-hand missing.

 

They also get a list of (more or less) what was taken from the alchemists' stores: Wyvern Venom (by an odd coincidence, actually - I had set up the wyvern encounter before looking up the required ingredients); Black Pearl; Witchbane; Troll blood; Phase Spider venom; Golden Lotus; Sapphire Dust; Cinnibar Essence, and Warpstone.
The Teutonians are appalled to find warpstone being kept by the alchemists (and the alchemist looks annoyed to see this on the list his underlings have compiled, but denies knowing the exact contents) . No one is aware of any recipe that requires all these ingredients, most are expensive but its suggested some could even be taken to hide the real items taken. The PCs miss another clue, and retire for the night.
Meanwhile, the other half of the party search for clues in seedy taverns about the recent murder, with information leading them to a moustachioed halfling named Milo at the Broken Donkey. Elena climbs the roof - Bella gets him to go up to his room to discuss things in private, finding Elena already there after coming in through a window; the PCs threaten and eventually murder him, after learning that the nobles were killed by a Barovian assassin named Vigo, who Milo had recently sold a anti-scrying device too.
The PCs return to an inn to sleep after this; Estaban is told to go looking for additional information near the Library.
The  next morning the PCs find Estaban has not returned; Elena goes looking for her 'grandfather' and is informed by the tavern owner at The Open Book (opposite the library) that he saw him leaving with a blonde lady, which is the last anyone saw of him.
Ehran, Frederick and Wulff visit the Library itself, with the Guard Captain and speak to the chief librarian, Grant, a sorcerer and expert on demons. They are told that nothing has been stolen/disturbed at the library. There is lengthy discussion of the necromancer problem. The PCs discover the library has a copy of the book stolen from the Church in Teutonia, Vermiis Mysteriis ('Mysteries of the worm')- bringing it out they discover it contains extensive details of undead creatures (potentially of use in defeating them); they discover in the entry on liches, a partial description of the process of becoming a lich - which includes among other more common ingredients, wyvern venom, phase spider venom, and vampire blood. The process is, however, incomplete - the librarian informs them that parts of Vermiis including this are dark elf translations from an incomplete fragment of the Necronomicon. The PCs see through his denials that the library has a copy, but he refuses to let them see it.
End session 4. (Note: the lich recipe I found online and is from an early Dragon magazine).

Session 5

One more player this session (though A. has only gotten 2 hours sleep and excuses herself early - Elena is also assumed AWOL from that point forward).
 
Session 5 continues where we left last time, with Ehran, Lord F. and the doctor talking to Grant, the chief librarian/sorcerer. Given the circumstances (possible lich threat), and also given that the captain of the city watch is there, he agrees to show them the book to confirm (again) that its still there.
They are ushered through a couple of locked doors into the more secure section; he opens another door with multiple locks (and magical wards), which is watched by a baseball-sized eye with wings (a guardian demon). Inside are a number of very nasty books, chained to the shelves (the librarian claims magically); one apparently bound in human skin and with a face (possibly an actual face) on the front cover is pointed out as the Necronomicon.

The PCs decide to set up a vigil in the library for the next week;  the city guard also sends men (in shifts of 6 guards). The three PCs currently there return to the Blade & Stars to find their companions; a half-elf singing in the inn is invited along by Lord Frederick who thinks their stay in the library will be quite boring (This is Hernand de la Vega, a half elf bard/ musketeer/ swashbuckler/ river pirate kinda guy).
 
Along the way Ehran comments on Hernand's ancestry in Elven - which he pretends not to understand - before commencing a song in Elven about the arrogance of elves. This prompts an angry outburst from Ehran who is ready to begin casting a spell when a pistol is quick-drawn on him..startling him somewhat as these are rare (particularly in his elven forest home. The party eventually talk them down and everyone has an ale.

They proceed to the library without further incident and set up inside. Generally one person is staying inside the sealed Forbidden Books chamber itself in case of some teleport spell or the like - at first Grant although after a couple of hours any initial objections to letting others in there are wavering and he is happy to be replaced by the doctor. Half an hour later an alarm sounds from the chamber, apparently false however...

Evening falls and a new shift of guards arrives...hours more pass.
Midnight, and there's is a big noise from upstairs...some PCs move down the side corridor to the stairs to the ground floor in time to hear the main door of the building being smashed down. Lord F. hears Estaban's voice...the PCs see two groups of people.

Group A appears to have descended stairs from the upper floor and include a robed bald Teutonian man who looks a bit like Imhotep from The Mummy, albeit with something of a grayish complexion and a scar; a tall (6') blonde woman) who is very attractive but basically dressed in rags, and two orcs - one of whom has a hand replaced by a metal crab-claw, while the other is hideously mutated with an upside-down face (the GM having pulled out Mutant Epoch to roll up random warpstone effects).

Group B appear to have broken through the front door and consists of a blonde woman wearing a metal breastplate that's impractically designed to not really cover much ("boobplate"), and carrying a double-bladed waraxe that looks much too heavy for her. Alongside her they see Estaban; there are also at least two cultists behind them.

The PCs watch buy stay back as it seems the two groups are fighting each other (I roll a few dice for some initial/critical attack rolls then handwave the rest, using most probable outcomes). The woman with the battleaxe is energy blasted and shaken repeatedly; Solon tosses a stake to the upside-down face orc who eventually manages to get through to her heart, making her turn to dust (her armour is designed to mostly just stop staking and nothing else, but isn't perfect).

The other orc is killed by Estaban - while the cultists at the back are stunned by Confusion zones from the woman wearing rags.

Estaban attempts to flee as soon as the woman is dusted, with cries of 'Get the other one!' from the necromancer. Team A head back upstairs and there are more loud noises and cries from the street outside.
The PCs eventually emerge from hiding and speaking to eyewitnesses discover that the necromancer, other unknown wizardess and the two orcs arrived on the back of a huge undead hydra with wings, which crashed through the roof of the library (into the upper floor).

The party debate what to do for a bit. Burning the book is suggested, but, it is pointed out that its not the sole copy and that Solon could potentially get copies from elsewhere - possibly Shadizar, given that the Necronomicon's author Al-Azrad was of there initially?

The librarian decides to show them something else - perhaps another method of dealing with the problem...Taking them another two floors down he reveals a chamber filled with strange sorcerous equipment, dominated by a metal archway guarded by two huge golems. (Yes, they have a Stargate).
He explains that this had been brought here from the Dark Continent a long time ago and is a somewhat badly kept secret...but it could be used to put the book somewhere out of reach.

The undead hydra thing in particular has also panicked the city, and the city council have an emergency meeting to decide what to do, at which the PCs are invited and permitted to speak. The doctor reveals that he is also a noble, from a village at the edge of the chaos wastes, and his real name, and tells of his village being destroyed and his family wiped out...they debate destroying the book but eventually agree that Solon himself must be stopped and decide to add further guards/support as well as hiring adventurers to deal with the problem. While the city is not heavily armed (being largely protected by mountains) it has a number of ships, and cannons are moved into the inn opposite the library and a number of other buildings nearby.
Dwarves are also brought in to begin reinforcing the ceiling, a slow process, and the libraries copy gnomes begin working on creating a fake Necronomicon (...the city morgue providing some skin so this looks authentic).

The party return to position in the library, being alerted this time by a cannon going off (but missing), and another crash from above...soon followed by pounding on the ceiling as the hydra begins to tear its way through.  Meanwhile, noise from outside as city guards are engaged by something else (what later proves to be lots of animated lizard-man skeletons). Through a crack one head appears, prompting the doctor to pull out his medusa head; that head turns to stone and breaks off as the beast moves. (I know D&D wouldn't let petrification affect undead, but IMHO its flesh so should work).
A ferocious battle breaks out; a grenade (sorcerous present from Grant to Hernand) is thrown through the hole but fails to go off (an impressive '3' for damage on 3d6 which isn't enough to get through anything's toughness - so for flavour text purposes I declare its a dud). An arrow takes off another head (2 left now); the PCs are fairly sure that being undead it will not regenerate the lost heads. A targeted blast to the main body from Ehran rips into it, damaging it seriously; Solon orders it back soon after so his escape route isn't cut off...a zone of confusion zaps more or less everyone, then two warpstone-enhanced orcs drop down into the room, engaging Lord F. who hasn't been stunned - he injures one (though it soaks so not seriously) and has to soak a wound himself; various arrows and things are shot; a zone of darkness fills the room soon but Ehran dispels it; a Wall of Fear is cast across the opening by the doctor; another confusion zone is dropped; Solon breaks cover enough to aim Bolts of negative energy down the hole, with Ehran soaking 1 of a potential 3 wound-hit, Lord F. and Bellarayne taking 2 wounds. The cat finally recovers and hits the uninjured orc but fails to dispatch it; a shaken Ehran rolls up on a Spirit roll and can act, throwing a nasty bolt of his own back at Solon (20-something for damage).  A scream is heard from above; the heavily injured necromancer and the other unknown wizardess getting back on the hydra and getting the hell out. The other PCs start running for the stairs, Hernando shooting an finally killing the other orc on the way, but they arrive too late to do much. Three more cannons go off but miss;  Hernando tries a parting shot but misses due to ridiculous range; the doctor again pulls out the medusa head - the blonde wizardess sees it but saves.

End Session 5. The PCs gather from various clues - lizardman skeletons, hydra, wizard heading SE across the lake - that Solon is lairing in the marshes out that side of the lake; Hernando as it happens has a boat and the PCs have patched up most of their wounds, so are planning on setting out straight away.
As the PCs are leaving, Lord F. is given a note from Estaban by a peasant (who did get away from the prior fight, with a successful Stealth check vs. Notice). Its implied that he is now a vampire and did not side with the cult willingly; he apologizes that he will not be returning to the lord's side despite being freed by his mistress' death, however. Vampire blood is one of the other ingredients in the lichdom process which also explains why the first fight ended as it did.  

I'm having fun GMing still, but let it be know that if anyone wants to try a hand at GMing, the Stargate could be handy for that purpose. Again the game was a bit slow at the start - I may need to fast forward a bit more in places.

Session 6

Session 6 continues where the last session left off; it is still night (the attack having occurred just after midnight), the PCs continue to the docks and take Hernando's boat. A. is available so Elena rejoins the party (recovered from the sonic diarrhoea). Hernand's player isn't here so its decided he will remain on the boat. Ehran's player is also away, but the wizard is too valuable to not use, so is NPC'd.


The PCs head across the lake with no encounters (an earlier roll determined that it was a full moon yesterday leading PCs to speculate about werefish), taking about 2 hours to reach the swamp. Not the players have asked this is only the Eastern side, not fully across, as its a big lake - 30 miles x 40 miles and to scale in the overland map).  They pass a few other ships which are stopped (despite 'zombie ship' paranoia from the PCs, they are actually just fishing); Hernando knows there's a village in the swamp, Fenchurch, which they can dock at and after some discussion over whether they should go there ('they could be all skeletons by now') or just into the swamp, they go there.
Also, they've tried scrying on Solon now, but with the attempt failing despite a good roll (indicating he has some sort of anti-scrying protection).

Its now about 3:30 am; they find one light on at the house of an old leech gatherer (back not long ago from gathering full-moon nighttime crawlies), who falls over himself having rolled well enough on a heraldry check to have seen the Rosenberg insignia, but not well enough to tell it apart from the Rosenberger one. They question him, asking about strange occurrences in the swamp - he reports nothing especially unusual. Asked where the hydra lives he says 'beyond the halfling village' and they decide to go there - their line of questioning doesn't get many specifics he could've told them, however. (Where the hut of Celeste the swamp hag is; I was expecting them to head straight north to there).


Heading out toward the halfling village they opt to travel in the dark, roping themselves together with Mist (the tiger) in the lead. They avoid some quicksand; they spot and shoot a weird three-headed snake which they initially suspect is a scrying device but which quick dissection indicates is a hydra larva (a bulge near the bottom contains a slowly growing main body with little legs).

Continuing on, a hidden (they fail Notice rolls) halfling guard asks them their business in Halfling, which no one understands; he runs off toward the village. The party stop and the doctor decides to scry the woman they saw with the necromancer; he gets an image of not the very fair woman but a large, hideous and warty hag sleeping, and a vague direction (north). They head up; halflings trail them but give up chase after the PCs call out to them.

45 minutes later, the PCs approach a large clearing, containing a large but very ramshackle building (what I describe as a 'mega hut' - two storey but built of branches and tied with vines). The stealthier PCs move forward toward the hut - quite successfully - spotting three lizardman skeletons stationed around this side. The doctor casts a dominate undead type spell he's been working on, getting two of them to attack the third; the other PCs moving forward spot the hydra, still heaving damaged, around the back.
Bella shoots out its two remaining heads with her multi arrow shot and it collapses;
Elena moves forward, climbing to the upstairs window and peering in. She sees the hag in there - assuming her human form - as well as the necromancer facing an ogre and casting a spell.

Back outside, Ehran moves toward the hut on the right flank while Frederick and his team move in closer near the water and are surprised by a huge lobster-like monster (a chuul, which they dub a 'lobstrosity') which tries to paralyze Yvette with face tentacles (target chosen randomly); it fails so she she is hit with a claw attack that drops her (another claw misses Ralef). A blow from Frederick however leaves it shaken, and Bella's cat moves back and hits it with a lethal pounce, biting it in the neck and shaking it. The two controlled skeletons finish breaking the third and move onto another skeleton from the side, while the doctor shoots at a fourth ineffectually.

Back inside the hut, the necromancer's body collapses and the ogre starts to head down the stairs. The hag follows and Elena moves up to her - failing Stealth but regardless landing two attacks with monstrous damage rolls (one a 31) which gut her immediately.
The ogre turns around, eyes glowing black, telling her in solon's voice that she will pay for her insolence, and blasts her with a Bolt of black energy that leaves her with 3 wounds (soak fails).

Downstairs Bella discovers two normal orcs downstairs , shooting them - one goes down while the other is shaken; Lord Frederick takes out his adamantine axe and runs forward, cutting a doorway-sized hole in the megahut. The doctor and other PCs pile in, finishing off the remaining orc. The doctor attempts to 'lower Toughness' on the ogre - still not aware of what's up with it - and fails. Elena escapes out a window; Bella shoots at the ogre (1 shot less than toughness; another enough to cause a shaken - spends a bennie); The ogre cries out in Solon's voice again and the doctor recognizes a Magic Jar spell. Frederick cuts at the stair's supports, bringing the stairs down; the ogre falls to the ground and is finishing off by his follower Imran. The doctor tries to climb up to the second story to get to the necromancer's comatose body, critically fails despite a boost from Ehran, and falls onto the ogre, touching the Magic Jar receptacle (a jewel in its loincloth). He wins an opposed Spirit roll with a 5 - avoiding possession - while Solon critically fails. The doctor cries out to Lord F. who comes over and with the adamantine waraxe crushes the gem into fragments - destroying the necromancer's soul.
The party commence healing and looting; Yvette is initially declared dead (1 on a vigour roll) until I remember she should have d8 not d6 vigour; rerolling she is alive and is fixed, as are most of the assassin's wounds. The swamp witch had little (a BBEG with Poverty disadvantage ) but they take a suit of very strongly enchanted elven chain and a black teardrop-shaped amulet (powerful anti-scrying device) from the necromancer's worse-than-dead body, along with most of the alchemy ingredients, some cash, his spellbooks and his copy of Vermiis Mysteriis.


The PCs return to Serentium, getting a further award of 5000 GP from the city council for their efforts and 7 xp for completion of the campaign sub-arc/character goals (enough for 2 advances since session 1 I only gave them 3 xp in session 1 - this brings PCs to 40 xp, including their starting 10). A few days are spent buying/selling magical items and the like using Fantasy Companion prices;  the doctor using the medusa's head and the cave fisher bits to construct a Wand of Paralyzation and Boots of Climbing respectively (I allow these at half cost), while Bella trades in her armour and lots of cash to get a more powerful bow. The party consider finding and grinding elves to make goggles of elven vision, but it is pointed out that orcs would also work.

Bella had secretly found earlier that her mother Clara had vanished about 20 years ago, going through the Stargate under the library - her name recorded in the logbook of people along with a set of destination numbers. This was before the current librarian Grant's time, but he found the numbers listed elsewhere with the note 'Gehenna?' and consulting the diary of his father - who himself vanished through a gate 7 years ago - he finds references to the library being visited by the wizard Greenwood (aka the Dalelands version of Elminster, thinly disguised), who had brought her here to use the Gate.

Either using the gate immediately or travelling north to find a way to safely dispose of the remaining warpstone are discussed, but eventually the PCs decide to travel downriver to Daleport - the doctor intending to pursue 'opportunities for alchemical research' while Bella's step-parents live in the area - she suspects there may be a few things they haven't previously told her...

Session 7.

We played at my house Friday, with the four main players out of six (two having work or other commitments) - we're missing the players of Ehran and Hernando.
The game gets off to a slow start (my bad for not getting people on track). The ranger has taken the beast master Edge again, and added a pair of dogs to her entourage (I'm being fairly generous with regard to what the edge grants, given that other people have been accumulating free NPCs). The party briefly consider going back to the swamp to see if they can find another baby hydra, then scrap the plan and continue to Bella's homstead to ask some questions, and Daleport. I'd expected the party to go by boat, however, they decide against this as it would require abandoning some of their wagons (looted from bandits earlier) - in view of that and Bella's family being inland elsewhere anyway, they decide to travel by wagon (Hernando and presumably Ehran continuing by boat, to meet them at Daleport).

They avoid the swamp (skirting the lake on the other side and then crossing the river by bridge), and then travel through pleasant meadows for a few days, one night attacked by a few orcs (which they dispatch easily; orc bits e.g. eyes are harvested as part of the doctor's project to make darkvision goggles). At the end of this they come to the farm where Bellarayne was raised, and speak to her stepfather about some things.

Which brings us to her background...the player had decided Bella was the child of an elven prince and an amazon, and that her parents had died saving her from an evil ritual, but some things had been left deliberately vague (we decided definitely in chargen that she hadn't been told all the details here - I have, I think, a certain amount of permission to build off this as GM.)

In Esperance the Duke's magical advisor Anwar had noticed that her aura was unusual and had recommended her to visit a witch who had visions of a ritual - a black ziggurat in a jungle, a number of people sacrificed and a baby painted in sigils in their blood, an elf killing a number of the cultists and then being shot by a woman, apparently before he could kill the child.
Her stepfather, Darran, told them that he had in his younger days been a mercenary who had travelled to the Dark Continent with Bella's father, an elven prince, where he'd met her mother Clara, an Amazon; the ritual which they had stopped did not involve sacrificing her per se but was intended to make her the vessel for a demoness worshipped by the cultists, Rehoman. Her father, believing it had been too late, tried to kill her but had been slain by her mother. Darran had agreed to look after the child while Clara attempted to find and destroy the demon, and was last seen seeking the aid of the wizard Greenwood...this had been twenty years ago, and he had told Bella they had both died, rather than having to tell her of her father's murder and her risk of being possessed.

After spending a night there the party moved on to Daleport as they'd planned - the whole Dale land being FR influenced, this was shamelessly Waterdeep influenced (including a council of anonymous Lords, although Daleport is subject to the king rather than being a city-state). There is also a hidden 'port' below the surface port, Skulldeep. (Based off Waterdeep's Skullport. The main difference here being that I didn't like Skulldeep being a mile underground at the sea edge - Skulldeep is almost wholly underwater, though within a water breathing effect). NPC henchman Martin hails from here originally and Bella has been here, so I give them the map, which actually itself isn't much like Waterdeep, and is marked out in more or less the Vornheim style - images are things the players may see, with the GM version having the key numbers in more detail.



With plans to attack the thieves guild they approached the City Watch. A wizard in the watch, Thandalon, wished them well in their efforts, telling them that slavers and the like frequently operated here out of an underground complex underpinning part of the city, and that Daleport was 'the largest exporter of slaves on the southern coast - despite slavery being illegal'. One recent case had been an elf vanishing from the Westbridge inn; the PCs investigated here to find the innkeeper knew of drow operating in the area, but not where their exit to the surface was, but that there was a publicly-known entrance at the Dark Way Inn.

The PCs proceeded down into the tunnels below the city - the Undermountain megadungeon. The PCs proceeded through a number of rooms, initially heading basically NE and circling around. Various random monsters dispatched so far including an incautious hobgoblin, a pack of six ghasts (the doctor controlling one to attack another, leading the pack to mostly wipe themselves out), a throne with snake arms; the PCs recruited a goblin, Nneek, who they grabbed after he tried to flee. The party have gathered some gems from a throne of bones, played around briefly with a magically-encapsulated wyvern, and had the doctor nearly turn to stone after an accident with a wand of wonder trap. Players are having fun, though they're slightly bemused by how random the dungeon is.

Session 8

Hernando's player is back and I stretch credulity slightly by having him rejoin the party immediately - to be fair after going through a secret door and circling around, they're not that far from the entrance, and are making quite a racket.
They head off east through a zone of magical darkness, and into a large section of dungeon which has - absolutely nothing in it. Just corridors. (!) Rolling a wandering monster they find 2 cave fishers and beat them up. They ask the goblin for directions and he leads them to some stairs down, bypassing a trap they reach the bottom and activate a teleporter (why not just have stairs do what stairs do?). Looking at the map I have to leave this as it is because the destination point indicated on L2 is about two A4-size maps down, but I hate Ed Greenwood.
The PCs appear outside a boudoir and go in, meeting a lady, Rielikki, who claims to have been kidnapped down here by Halaster, the insane wizard who maintains the dungeon. One of the PCs smells cat from her for some reason (13 Notice roll), and a check of her finds transmutation magic (which I remind them could of course be any sort of buff spell or the like...). She denies being Halaster (this crazed accusation shocks her a bit), and it is also theorized the wizard might have created her by polymorphing a cat, though history checking her show apparent memories of being from Neverwinter and such.
Elena takes an immediate dislike to her but she is taken in by the menfolk anyway - she does seem to have a decent knowledge of the place...they ask her to take them down to level 3, which oddly for someone wanting to be rescued, she doesn't have an issue with...along the way the party find another large empty bit with random encounter - 7 trolls! - they position themselves in a doorway, with Frederick's fairly ridiculous Parry mostly blockading the things in to take them down one at a time. Incendiaries from the doctor and some fire arrows (lit by the squire) help keep some of them down, though most take some kiling (one is dropped three times before it goes down for good).
They grab loot (gems, coins and some armour) and feeling very chuffed about this ask Rielikki if there are any other large monsters nearby...she tells them of a multiheaded beast elsewhere. They trek for a while and open a trapped a door to find a large dark cave - the party ranger finds something which is Not A Normal Hydra - 25' long, with 8 heads fringing a sandworm-like central mouth, and a tail ending in a pincer. While it naturally doesn't fit through the doorway, its too far in through a rocky area for them to shoot through the doorway; a vote is taken and while the frontline fighters are somewhat against it, everyone who normally shoots from the back votes to attempt to kill it
Frederick dictates a short last love letter for Genevieve to Yvette in case he doesn't make it and tells her to stay out of the room

Moving in, the creature is hit with a barrage of attacks - applying some GM bennies it soaks some damage but still is left with 4 wounds in the first round (as a houserule I've bumped up # wounds for big monsters instead of a Toughness increase - I've assigned it nine). It fails a soak and unfortunately recovers from shaken on its turn- it takes another couple of ridiculous damage rolls, including a 29 damage from Elena - the GM is sad.
The party find a number of magical items (the book notes it has treasure but the GM has to assign it, grr) amid the remains of several adventuring parties.
The party finds a spot to camp for the 'night' - which I judge to be probably not too hard given all the huge stupid empty spaces. Wandering monster roll is negative.
Party are also told of a mummy's tomb elsewhere in the complex and commence looting that, but its getting late. They find its sub-complex and kill a cloaker, a large bird in a trapdoor, a stone golem and some crawling claws, but haven't quite made it to the burial chamber.

Overall summary is that while people are having fun, Undermountain sucks - too much dead space, wrong things detailed, unwieldy maps. The game system itself may be starting to show some cracks (dealing with damage); I have to put more effort into building monsters, I think. Possible I should use more active parrying (blocking attacks may be more effective that just adding more Toughness/wounds).

(last session should be worth 3 xp)
Session 9
Short session (only 3 hours, including dinner). More fossicking through the mummies' tomb in undermountain - went through (spoilering in the very off chance anyone is planning on doing undermountain:

Spoiler

6 zombie ogres disguised as statues, a wraith, 28 skeletons (one with a sword of sharpness), a mummy and a gas spore.

Players hate undermountain but don't seem in any hurry to leave - too much treasure making them grind my instance? Oh well.
Probably 2 xp for this session (total for PCs of about 45).