(Almost) Burning Down the House [session 20]

Adventurers Present

Bilbo - hobbit

Mossmullet - dwarfley tempest cleric

Orsek Ungart - dwarfley barbarian wizard

SMASH - dwarfley life cleric

Something bad almost happened to Brambleham.  Something unforeseen and unexpected.  Something wild and dangerous…an inebriated hobbit.

Having reached the safety and security of civilization in the form of the town of Brambleham, our intrepid adventurers took a week to pursue various forms of rest, relaxation and rejuvenation.  The first order of business was to cash in the various treasures recovered from Quasqueton, selling off the strange and varied objects to those with the interest and gold to acquire them.  The party’s efforts in the monster-infested caverns and forests of the southlands finally rendered up a fortune substantial enough to make clear that the entire endeavor was worthwhile: nearly 9,000 gp to split up amongst the four remaining adventurers.  (The others must all have gotten lost in the woods?)Once obtained, all that gold quickly started burning a hole through the purses and pockets of the victorious party members, leading to all sorts of unprecedented activities for the group.  The sedate dwarfley clerics were the least exciting.  On the outskirts of Brambleham along the road to Deeyin Deel, Mossmullet erected a substantial roadside shrine to his fierce goddess Varga.  Cousin SMASH tunneled beneath that shrine, creating a similarly substantial underground shrine to his beloved deity Temas Tunneller.

Orsek the necromancer’s activities were more interesting.  Buying up some of the more dubious reading materials in town, he began a course of wizardly research into the darker mysteries of the multiverse in his quest for knowledge.  His arcane inquiries did not go unnoticed, for sending out metaphysical tendrils of magical might into the cosmos brought about an unintended result: he gave demon prince Orcus a psychic noogie.  The demonic “god” of undeath decided not to exact immediate retribution upon the offending magician, but slyly warned him that the price of a future favor might be requested of the dwarf, and that such a request had best not be ignored.

All of the more cerebral endeavors of the dwarves having been concluded, the heroes set about painting the town.  SMASH caroused a little bit, practicing moderation and good common sense.  Mossmullet drank a bit more, but no letters home were called for.  Orsek really tied one on, but perhaps thanks to his dwarfley constitution, no ill effects were invoked other than overindulging and spending too much gold.  And then there was the hobbit.  Bilbo ate and drank all that was offered to him for most of the week, if his pub tab was any indication.  Outpartying all three dwarves combined, Bilbo wandered from establishment to establishment with reckless abandon.  Which perhaps explains why he almost burned the town down.  Luckily (being a hobbit after all) he managed to put out the literal and figurative fires he caused before any major disasters befell the sleepy hamlet.  Still his actions were noted and the word is out on Bilbo.  The locals are apt to be wary and suspicious of any further activities of the puny partier.

The only other activity of note was that Orsek and Bilbo built a greatroom and kitchen, attached to the roadside shrines.  They also bought a sturdy locking chest to store their valuables.  Which all the party contributed some gold and valuables to, before heading out North toward their next adventure – White Plume Mountain!  Mossmullet, apparently overcome with godliness after erecting a shrine to his goddess, asked her for the favor of guiding divination about their chances in the bowels of that fearsome peak and whether the stout adventurers were up to the task.  She answered that the road was long, and would harden them to their mission along the way.

The group being both plucky and bellicose, they were undeterred by such half-hearted endorsements.  They bought up some provisions and set out along the east side of the river up to Chedderbend and White Plume Mountain.  They walked a full day before spotting an odd Stonehenge-like mounded circle of obelisks in which to possibly camp.  A thorough investigation of the spot revealed a man-sized tunnel hidden underneath one of the many tumbled rocks and boulders.  The party trod the rough-hewn stairs deep into the earthen mound, until they came upon a moldy crypt.  Inside were three sarcophagi, wherein were interred Roderick, his brother Broderick, and their father Hoderick (who was not to be disturbed).  They curious group nonetheless opened the first sarcophagus, thereby awaking all three of the undead monsters from their restless slumber.  The first two corpses were easily dispatched, being nothing more than well-armed skeletons.  But the father proved something more fierce and evil.  Exuding some ancient type of evil, waves of crackling black energy draped the angry crypt lord as he attacked the living pests.  This frightful fiend proved too powerful to be injured by regular weaponry.  Luckily, both Bilbo and Mossmullet had thought to “silver” their favored bludgeons back at Brambleham, so the party was far from disarmed.  SMASH invoked the feared Shovel of Termas, which floated over to join the attack upon the awakened horror.  Orsek threw Chromatic Orbs, wounding the fiend with his wizardry.  Although the crypt lord’s very touch drained some of the life force from hapless Mossmullet, the adventurers eventually prevailed over the undead.  Their reward came later on, in the form of hundreds of gold pieces and a translucent blue short sword of Frost.  These treasures were hidden further on in the dungeon, secreted behind a massive boulder which took all the group’s strength to roll out of the way.  Also located was a small shrine dedicated to Varga herself, who was apparently a favorite of the recently re-departed.  Who knew?  Mossmullet made amends for his transgressions against fellow followers of his fearsome goddess, sacrificing a day’s rations at the shrine.  And then the party slept the sleep of the living, in a tomb recently claimed only by the (un)dead.

Party Experience Gained

Combat:  54 each

Exploration:  37 each

[they also gained between 50 and 2500 experience each by spending money on feasts, shrines, kitchens and magical research]

Travelling [session 19]

Adventurers Present

Bilbo - hobbit

Mossmullet - dwarfley tempest cleric

Orsek Ungart - dwarfley barbarian wizard

SMASH - dwarfley life cleric

After we load the loot into a mining cart we decide to press on when Orsek and Bilbo get very tired. With Bilbo in the cart we push on until we hear a bush say “Halt, if you leave the treasure you can pass." The bush shoots Orsek with an arrow. Orsek angrily uses burning hands on the bush. We check behind the bush and discover that a goblin was in it. The goblin is nowhere in sight. SMASH and Orsek are tired from searching and climb into the cart with Bilbo, leaving Mossmullet pushing it alone. We get to Korsso’s cave and meet Korsso again. We sleep.

Korrso leads us to a room we have never been in before. We find a statue of a three legged toad and SMASH brings it to the altar of three legged toads in the other room. We leave while Korsso is asleep and march to Franklin’s tower. We see a goat man but he doesn't attack us. Bilbo and SMASH get back in the cart. We pass Franklin’s body. We get to the cloak room to put the treasure in it when we find a talking walking stick. We find out that he has a brother that is a wand. We find Charlee and sleep in the parlor. 

We go to the oracle for what seems (and may be) hours. We leave the oracle and head to Brambleham. SMASH gets in the cart. We see three alligator heads that turn out to be a hydra. The heads burn and die until the hydra floats down the river. We chase after it and get hydra blood. SMASH is even more tired but casts a spell to fix it. Mossmullet enhances himself. SMASH gets more tired and Bilbo and Orsek get in the cart. Orsek leaves the cart thanks to another of Mossmullet's spells. Two goblins come, one has a bush hat. Orsek burns a tree it says "ow." Sling bullets fly and bounce off bush hats. Orsek hits another tree it also says "ow." Orsek burns the second goblin. Mossmullet smashes Bush-Head. SMASH keeps the bush hat as a trophy. And we finally make it back to Brambleham.

Party Experience Gained
Combat:  231 each

Exploration:  5 each

Pushing the Cart [session 19]

Adventurers Present

Bilbo - hobbit

Mossmullet - dwarfley tempest cleric

Orsek Ungart - dwarfley barbarian wizard

SMASH - dwarfley life cleric

Some adventures are about discovering unexplored territory and solving mysteries.  Some are about managing combat and defeating the enemy.  And some, like today’s endeavor, are about cleaning up the mess and trudging home.  This session’s play was the story of getting the survivors and their spoils safely back from the caverns of Quasqueton to their home base in Brambleham.

In an arduous three-day journey, the (reduced) party of adventurers pushed themselves to the limits by force-marching along the river banks of the dread forest surrounding Quasqueton.  Complicating and aggravating this task was the potentially pyrrhic desire to transport back the larger and bulkier items of value the group had recovered in the dungeon.  Still, the group was dead set upon making the attempt.  Implementing the plans from the day before, the four adventurers loaded up their outsized valuables into one of Quasqueton’s mine carts and headed back toward civilization.  Remembering and heeding the warnings they’d received long ago in Brambleham, they resolved not to be caught out in the open forest when night descended and the evil denizens of the deep woods came out to hunt.  Thus, three dwarves and a hobbit strained mightily to push the heaping cart along the stony shores of the river, while still reaching their sheltering way-stations along the path home:  the Kaves of Korsso, Franklin’s Tower, and their ultimate destination of Brambleham.  The problem lay in that those three havens were each spaced a full-day’s march from each other along the forested river, while travelling with a weighty cart of treasures does not make for a regular day’s march!  Thus, only a seriously forced march would accomplish the group’s dual goals of keeping their treasure, and still reaching safety each night at the only obvious shelters.

The first day’s journey went relatively uneventfully, with the only encounter being a single (highly delusional) goblin bandit.  From the relative safety of a bushy thicket, the goblin promised to let the heroes walk on unmolested once they abandoned their treasure.  Predictably declining this offer, the party prepared for combat.  The nimble goblin stole the initiative and shot Bilbo with an arrow, then skittered away and hid before the retaliatory fire and steel could end his thieving goblin life.  Rather than waste additional time and resources upon the nefarious nuisance, the party lumbered on.  It wasn’t long before the true difficulty of this weighed-down walk revealed itself:  every couple hours brought the possibility of an additional level of exhaustion for each of the struggling stevedores.  Mossmullet, child of Varga, began an unending muttering of prayers for endurance to his patron goddess, and was rewarded with the Enhanced Fortitude to bear his share of the burden with uncommon ability.  The other members of the party didn’t fare so well.  Although the Kaves of Korsso finally appeared as the sun departed the sky, hobbit Bilbo’s endurance gave out before they’d reached that destination.  He finished the final leg of the day’s journey riding in the back of the cart as the others pushed on.

The weary adventurers spent that night getting reacquainted with the lost Sleestak Korso, breaking bread and sharing (stinky) sleeping quarters with him in his sheltered cave.  Rising refreshed and ready, they briefly explored the rest of the Kaves (finding nothing of interest) before setting out for the second leg of their return journey.  The second day of pushing the cart was even less eventful than the first day, but again their true enemy was exhaustion:  by the time the burdened bunch reached Franklin’s Tower, Bilbo, Smash and Orsek were all cart-bound with multiple levels of enervating exhaustion.  Only Mossmullet, filled with the divine fervor and Fortitude of the Queen of Winter, was able to bear up for the second full day of toilsome treasure-hauling.

Franklin’s Tower offered the group both a good night’s sleep on the first beds anyone had enjoyed in many a day, as well as a couple of previously-missed valuables!  Mossmullet located the magical puppet Charlee, and claimed it as his own.  Orsek recovered Franklin’s old walking staff.  And I do mean old: the staff revealed itself to have been carved over 400 years ago!  And by revealed, I mean “said”.  As in, immediately after being grasped by wizard Orsek, the staff started actually talking!  The obviously magical walking staff stated that it was carved from the same branch as some other wand (hmmm, maybe it can tell us more?), that it liked going on walk-abouts (maybe it knows the area we’re in better than we do?), and drinking pina coladas.  OK, I made that last one up.  The staff actually assured the group that it had no need for food or sleep (might it make a good watch-dog for a sleeping mage?).  Anyhow, after stowing the treasures from the cart in the Tower’s cloakroom, the over-tired party sacked out.

Before leaving the Tower for the third day’s journey, the group visited the gooey oracle-thing in the Tower’s cellar.  This was the knowledge they gained:

• White Plume Mountain is an active volcano
• The monster in the bubbles is a giant crab of some sort
• The trap at the end may involve a frying pan, and kills by drowning
• The trap is triggered by randomly, by foolishness
• There are three weapons in White Plume Mountain: a sword, a hammer, and an artifact
• The “Yaga” is a crone who has alchemy

These insights cost the party many a purloined pickle, but the deceased Franklin footed the bill.  Also discussed were some ideas about how to Gumby yourself into the books of Hairy Potter, but I didn’t record those details.

Day three of pushing the cart home brought about some far more serious adventure, but not before the group had already succumbed to the wearying price for their monumental journey of greed: both Bilbo and Smash were too tired to trudge on and full speed and were riding the cart as Orsek and muttering Mossmullet pushed on.  That was when the watchful hobbit spied what appeared to be an alligator cutting through the waters of the river directly toward them.  The group prepared for battle as two other gator-heads broke the surface.  The party was then slightly shocked and alarmed when one of those heads suddenly reared up upon a long, sinuous neck!  Not alligators at all!  Still, the seasoned adventurers kept their heads and launched a first-strike as the monsters swam up.  Mossmullet fumbled off an ill-advised and ineffectual Bane spell, but Orsek electrocuted all three with a well-chosen orb of Chromatic lightning, Smash blasted one with a Guiding Bolt, and Bilbo fired off an arrow.  Then came the big reveal: the party faced not three creatures, but only one hydra!  It was game on, with the hydra heads biting and seriously injuring Smash and Orsek in revenge.  But the party triumphed in the end when Bilbo splashed oil upon the beast, Smash delivered another powerful Bolt, Mossmullet Thunderwaved a couple of the hydras heads to sleep, and Orsek unleashed a Burning Hands which both fried the remaining head and lit the monster on fire.  Hooray!  Party 1, monsters 0.

As the exhausted bunch finally came so close to Brambleham they could almost taste the pork, the price of their earlier unwillingness to secure their flanks came home to roost: the persistent and larcenous goblin had tracked them down, and brought along a friend!  The two brave (foolhardy) goblins positioned themselves between the adventures and their goal of Brambleham, and this time they were ready to fight!  And low, what a fight it was.  This pack of seasoned warriors - mighty mages and powerful priests aided by their faithful hobbit friend - had as much difficulty slaying these two goblins than they had the hydra.  The long-drawn-out combat went three full rounds.  Chromatic Orbs were hurled and missed.  Varga’s Winter’s Chill touched one goblin, who merely shook it off.  Arrows and maces bounced fecklessly off goblin armor.  The hamster god’s Commands were heeded and slowed down the goblin assault, but still left the creatures fit for fighting.  And goblin arrows bit dwarf flesh.  Still, at some point the gods of probability caught up to the outnumbered and outgunned goblins, and they lost their gambit for the group’s goods: one succumbed to one of Orsek’s Orbs of explosive fire, and the other’s skull crumpled under a dwarfley mace.  The fight, and the long, long journey home, were finally finished.  The worn explorers stumbled on to Brambleham, decisively pushing the cartful of fortunes to their destination, with new adventures (and enhanced wealth) waiting to be explored another day.

Party Experience Gained
Combat:  231 each

Exploration:  5 each

Quasqueton Level One Complete Map

Here is the adventurers' final map of the first level of Quasqueton.  I'm not going to say it's perfect, but it will get you where you need to go...

[click to embiggen]

Finishing Up [session 18]

Adventurers Present

Bilbo - hobbit

Hugh Kha-Rez - draconian barbarian
Mossmullet - dwarfley tempest cleric

Orsek Ungart - dwarfley barbarian wizard

Red - elfin rogue
SMASH - dwarfley life cleric

The adventures set out this fine morning with a distinct task in mind; finishing the exploration of the tunnels and caverns of Quasqueton.  Happily, the goal seemed achievable as long as the party’s progress was steady and substantial.  If only there weren’t too many interesting but time-intensive matters like the room of many pools, which required intensive investigation, this dawning day should prove the party’s last in the dark depths of the nigh-endless underground complex.
 
Alas, there was a bit of a fascinating and diverting complication in each of the first three rooms explored on this day.  Starting the day by exploring the map and realizing that there were some inexplicably large blank spaces upon the map, the party spent the first few turns searching for secret doors around these two large blocks of unexplored space.  Ultimately, they found secret doors leading into both areas.  But not before they attracted the attention of four wandering zombies.  The undead put up a good fight, but ultimately fell before the weapons and determination of the living.
 
Beginning with the first room, the wizard’s workroom, the party encountered lots and lots of options!  The workroom contained a table full of many different jars.  Most were time-wasting oddities, like gravel or ash.  But a few proved truly interesting, and one proved exceedingly valuable.  SMASH was thrilled when garlic was discovered and he could sacrifice some to his hamster deity.  A jar of cloves was located, which probably had some small amount of value.  But most interesting was the jar of poop.  Now, it wasn’t just any old poop…oh no!  This was dried dragon poop!   Mossmullet, the lucky locator of the desiccated dragon doo, attempted to carefully examine the poop to see if it appeared valuable in some way which might explain its preservation.  But the fumble-fingered dwarf badly mishandled the nugget, and managed to break it apart.  Which turned out to have been the best thing he could have done!  Because hidden inside was a single, gleaming gem worth 5,000 gp!
 
The next stop on the secret rooms of time-consumption tour was the wizard’s lab.  It held 5 giant centipedes, which attacked the party as soon as they began exploring.  While this group of fearsome explorers has previously tackled much deadlier foes, this particular battle proved rather taxing upon the party.  In particular, both rogues were struck by mandibles, poisoned, and knocked unconscious.  Red’s poisoning was especially virulent; he was not only reduced to zero hit points, but looked to be knocking loudly at death’s door!  Both clerics went to work upon Red, rescuing him from an early entry into the afterlife, while the remaining party members whittled down the numbers of the attacking bugs.  The battle was won and the ailing rogues (Lesser) Restored to health, but the mulleted minion of Varga expended most of his divine aid for the day to preserve the party.   The room held more fun for the group, with an exploding blast of laughing gas hidden in a crate, and a potion of invisibility (briefly) used up by SMASH.
 
The final leg of the Trifecta of Time-traps was a room infested with giant crabs.  Battle was again entered and survived by the explorers, this time with few serious casualties.  Bilbo exhibited his new-found hobbit powers to slough off damage, slipping again and again from the grasping claws of the jumbo crustaceans.  When the last claw was disjointed and the final crab cracked, the party broke them apart for an exceedingly tasty addition of daily rations.  They were also able to supplement their meal with side-dishes such as pickled herring, ale, and dried fruit taken from the 20 (or was it 10?) casks stacked in this larder.  SMASH was again thrilled to find something suitable (root beer!) for sacrifice to his hamster…god.  Mossmullet, feeling slightly ungrateful to his fierce patron, idly wondered if she might appreciate the sacrifice of a cannibalistic hamster priest….
 
From this point on, the pace of exploration sped up substantially, as the weary adventurers attempted to achieve the goal of finally clearing out the mazes of Quasqueton.  Some twisty paths, a stupid spiraled corridor, and some Burning-Hands-toasted giant rats later, the group came to a large, interesting, and danger-filled terrarium.  Exploring it led to Hugh's sampling mushroom after mushroom, in what looked surprisingly like Russian roulette (never a winning proposition).  While it wasn’t clear what god of luck was looking out for Hugh this day, his will must be powerful, for the dopey barbarian suffered no ill effects whatsoever.  Less lucky, however, were the 8 prior victims of the Creeper flowers at the back of the room.  These large, breezelessly-waving purple and yellow flowers apparently used powerful flower-power to enslave and zombify the minds of humanoids, controlling them like puppet-guardians when the explorers came too near.  Orsek opened up with a cone of Burning Hands, while the others engaged the surviving greenie-groupies in general melee.  The plant protectors were dispatched quickly enough, except for one taken prisoner so they might attempt to magically heal and rescue him.  It was then that Red found the entry in the wizard’s compendium of plant lore (taken the day before from the wizard’s closet, along with the spider-cloak) for the flowers the group faced:  the party finally realized the extreme hazard which the Creeper flowers posed.  With this revelation, magical attacks became focused upon the overgrown ‘corpse-plants’.  Orsek used his fire magic to scorch about half of the frightening plant, and Mossmullet finished it off with a critically-effective Shatter spell.  After picking off the smoldering scraps of Creeper, the party focused more upon their captive.  Lesser Restoration by the SMASH failed to fully restore the poor zombified plant-puppet, and it became clear that actually healing the man was beyond the party’s collective abilities.  So he was put down, as quickly and humanely as possible.  Happily, a search of the eight dead zombies revealed a suit of  +1 chainmail, and Mossmullet invoked the age-old “Finders Keepers” rule to retain the magical armor.  He did beneficently relinquish the +1 shield he’d previously acquired from Fizzlebang.  Since the wizard paladin was strangely absent this day, the magical shield went to SMASH.  And thus, the party doubled-down upon a growing tradition of passing magical items from one owner to the next.
 
As the hours grew late, the explorers found their way to the dungeon’s final room, where the previous occupants conducted their conferences and training programs.  Pushing aside the chairs, tables, coffee pots and laptop-projectors loaded with PowerPoint presentations about how to force enslaved orcs to painstakingly dig needlessly overlong tunnels and ridiculous spirals into an underground retreat, the group grabbed a silver mirror worth approximately 90 gp.
 
Returning to the trophy room, the exhausted explorers took stock.  They regarded their substantial collection of bulky-but-valuable treasures, and wondered how to possibly return as many of them to civilization (AKA the cash-heavy merchants who might liquidate the haul).  It was then that Red remembered the mining carts abandoned down below.  Two carts were fetched and loaded with the various large items, with the plan to return to Brambleham on the following morning.  With that, the group settled in, secured the room, and drifted off into pleasant dreams featuring the wealth and glory which awaited them upon their triumphant return.  Well…more or less triumphant.  Nuno Rockhead’s “return”, when SMASH’s gut was through with him, would surely be something far short of “triumphant”…

Party Experience Gained
Combat:  173 each

Exploration:  35 each

Quasqueton, Level One Combined

The party did some more exploration, and was able to join up their two level one maps.  And here it is:

Connecting the Dining Room’s Dots [session 17]

Adventurers Present

Bilbo - hobbit

Mossmullet - dwarfley tempest cleric

Orsek Ungart - dwarfley barbarian wizard

Red - elfin rogue
SMASH - dwarfley life cleric

Thik Thak - orcine fighter
Wilfred Fizzlebang - gnomic paladin

It was a large group of explorers who roamed the halls of Quasqueton on this leisurely outing.  Although perhaps not a great deal of territory was covered during this day’s perambulations, some good treasure was recovered and a fine task was accomplished – connecting up the party’s two maps of the upper level of Quasqueton, thus combining them into one, seamless whole.

The massed army of adventurers started in the longish room of the deceased flying monster, exiting out the other side into an oddly-shaped and relatively boring barracks room.  Nothing of value or interest was discovered, so the group backtracked over to the dining room area.  Deciding to head North from there, they soon stumbled into the great wizard’s bedroom.  An expensive bed frame worth hundreds of gold pieces was discovered, broken down, and made ready for transport by the party.  The moving men attempted to examine his nightstand as well (and pilfered 37 gp inside), but Thik Thak got a splinter or something, so the miffed marauders SMASHed the thing to bits.  Some annoying zombies showed up to distract the party from the serious work of moving furniture about, but they couldn’t provide union cards and were dispatched without pay.

The carefully disassembled bed having been safely tucked away for later retrieval in the trophy room, the party then riffled the wizard’s closet.  Putting on his dress-up clothes, trying to read his indecipherable books, and harshly judging his taste in cloth bolts, the group generally made a mess.  They did keep a cob-webby old magic spider-web-cloak, which was immediately coveted by the gnomish paladin to such an extent that he gladly traded away his magic +1 sword for it.  Thus began the sad wanderings of the most un-loved magic weapon in all the lands around Deeyin Deel.  Once praised for its good work at slaying zombies and given the name "Redead", the poor short sword was tossed aside by Fizzlebang for a newer, moldier magic item.  Red took the displaced sword in for a while, rather than simply leaving it to tarnish upon the floor.

From there it was on to the wizard’s spell-practice blast-chamber, where a extra-large skeleton with a great axe was hanging around waiting for some wood to chop up.  Failing that, but not caring much for the squirmy living humanoids who wandered in either, he settled for using his axe upon them.  Which didn’t end that well for him, I must say.  While he did inflict a sizable wound upon one of the group, the horde of the living soon overwhelmed him and sent him on to his final reward.

That done, the party wandered on to the false-door pit-trap room.  This lovely trap sent 5 of the 7 party members plunging 40’ down into the icy pool last seen in session 15.  The one with the shelf of skeletons, in close proximity to the FORBIDDEN ROOM of session 14?  Yeah, there.  So, Mossmullet almost drowned, being pulled to the bottom by his heavy chainmail.  But he doffed it smartly, swam out, and joined his other slightly-injured brethren upon the shores of the icy pool.  After using a little ingenuity (spike tied together at end of rope) and a little magic (Mage Hand), the dwarf’s beloved chain armor was recovered.  A couple spells were cast to repair the fallen heroes to a semblance of fitness, and they then trekked back upstairs to rejoin their less accident-prone fellows.

The group again returned to the area of the dining room, making it by far the most-visited area of today’s session.  This time, they set off to the West.  They discovered a long, skinny kitchen, complete with moldy old food.  SMASH did the Purify Food & Drink thing, gaining the party two days of rations when they otherwise might have gone hungry.  This being something vaguely resembling a root cellar (or the closest anyone’s seen to date in Quasqueton), perhaps the cleric’s god was made happy…?

Exiting out the other side of the kitchen, the explorers were delighted to (re)discover…the library!  Yes indeed, they were back on the map, so to speak!  The dots all finally connected, the group celebrated by burning some books to warm themselves up from their earlier icy bath (and picking up a few odd spellbooks for the wizard).  Once all fit, warm and hale, they set off again to locate new challenges.  Finding a nearby storage room containing all kinds of goods and oddities, their search was temporarily interrupted by the appearance of a swarm of stirges.  Although they did manage to suck some blood from a couple of the party members, they somehow missed the candy-flavored gnomish fluids coursing through Fizzlebang’s tiny veins.  So their deaths were both unnourished and un-mourned.  Ah well, nobody ever said a stirge’s life was easy.  After slaying the pests, the group sorted through the random junk left behind when the complex was originally abandoned.  Unsurprisingly, nothing of value was found.  EXCEPT for an exceedingly well-crafted light hammer, of clearly magical origin!

Needing a good way to deal some bludgeoning damage, Red gladly accepted the shiny new hammer!  I think somebody else might have taken his unpopular short sword.  Or maybe he kept it.  Or maybe it’s just lying there on the floor of the storage room to this day…?

Thus ended the session.

Party Experience Gained
Combat:  48 each

Exploration:  35 each

Quasqueton Map - Level One, Part Two

Here's the second map of the first level of Quasqueton:

[click to embiggen]

Part one of the upper level is here.  Once the two maps meet up, i'll stitch them together...

Up and At ‘Em! [session 16]

Adventurers Present

Bilbo - hobbitish rogue

Hugh Kha-Rez - draconian barbarian (joined late and left early)

Mossmullet (Kronral Ungart) - dwarfley cleric

Orsek Ungart - dwarfley barbarian wizard

Red - elfin rogue (joined late)

Thik Thak - orcine fighter (joined late)

Awakening in the depths of the lower caverns of Quasqueton, the group was a bit on the small side: only Bilbo, Mossmullet and Orsek were present for the first couple hours of play.  However, this team proved plenty capable of tackling the challenges they faced.

Heading up the stairs back to the upper level of the dungeon, they raced through an unprecedented number of rooms.  They found a trophy room of the original inhabitants, filled with moderately valuable statutes, tapestries, and other nice but ultimately overlarge treasures.  Making a careful note on the map (“dragon skin”), they had little choice but to leave these items behind and continue looking for smaller, more valuable trinkets.  Heading on, they found a large throne room with a small but valuable onyx dragon statue.  Carefully exploring the room for traps and deciding it was safe, they pocketed the statue and moved on.  A nearby corridor ended in a suspiciously walled up wooden alcove, so the party successfully explored it and located a secret door.  The door led to the long-dead fighter/owner’s wood-paneled bedroom (very 70s, right?), and crossing the room immediately led to an attack by the monsters under the bed: 4 giant centipedes.  They were dispatched, but not before striking a monstrous critical hit on Orsek, doing enough damage to fell a rhino and even overcoming his dwarfley resilience to poison.  Happily, Orsek’s a tough little SOB, and he just walked it off.

The three then found some additional loot in some girl’s room, then some more loot in a storeroom.  They then followed a ridiculously long corridor back around to the throne room, where they finally noticed another door which they’d somehow missed before.  Inside was an ash pit with some filthy, filthy lucre in it, and an ugly demon-face statue on the wall.  As they looked at the demon-face (and broke off its nose), 5 ratlings found them and attacked.  The battle was extremely one-sided, and 4 of the 5 were dispatched to the ratling afterworld when the fifth surrendered.  He was tied with rope, and forced to lead the way to yet another bedchamber.  This new room belonged to the fighter’s retainer, and held even better loot than the fighter’s room had.  But before they could explore and collect, they had to deal with a VERY whiny giant mushroom (Shrieker), which only stopped its infernal racket when the party chopped it up into veggie burgers.  The party discovered a cask of tasty ale, which  healed up everyone’s wounds (liquid courage!), while also leaving Mossmullet and especially Orsek a bit inebriated.  So much so, in fact, that this second ratling prisoner AGAIN managed to slip away from the group!

Bunches of Fun
It was right about this point that the three were joined by more players: Red, Hugh and Thik Thak.  The enlarged party soon came to an enlarged room, filled with 14 different small pools of watery stuff of variable interest and lethality.  The first pool, once the heroes decided to drink from it, had magical healing properties (much like the ale but with far less drunk-and-disorderliness about it).  The remaining pools revealed fun things like: goldfish, super-inebriants, acid, boiling water, sparkle-glow water, green slime, magical muteness, mud of unknown qualities and sleeping potion.  It was fun, but took FOREVER to explore.  Next the group found a secret door, and found yet another bedroom.  Which had some valuable stuff in it, but nothing of real interest.

The group then wandered through a bunch of corridors and some rooms which they’d previously explored, like, 7 or 8 sessions ago, culminating in actually locating the exit!  Hooray!  Hooray for mapping!  Hooray for not wandering in circles until you drop from boredom and exhaustion!  Mapping GOOD!!!

After finally having a beginning-end connection to this dungeon, the group went back to exploring new territory.  They went and found a long room with some kind of flying pac-man monster in it.  The monster was probably big and bad and tough, but his attack was poorly timed in a meta-gaming sense; the players were tired and about to end the session, so they pulled out all the stops, used their Inspirations, and unloaded upon the poor beast.  Frying pans did 19 damage, Guiding Bolts of Lightning did even more, and the creature was nuked before it could so much as emit a whimper.  Thus ended the gaming session.  But more fun awaits the intrepid interlopers (yeah, there it is - you know you’ve been waiting for my inevitable alliterations!) in Quasqueton, since it appears that about half of the first level remains unexplored.  Hooray!

Party Experience Gained
(for those who could be there the whole time - the others earned less)

Combat:  148 each
Exploration:  325 each

Quasqueton, Lower Level

The adventureres have expanded (slightly) on the Sleestaks' map, completing the level.  For your edification, here are two versions of those updates.

Qausqueton, lower level

[terramariae version]

Qausqueton, lower level

[lacumagna version]

Session 15 report

Adventurers Present

Bilbo - hobbitish rogue

Hugh Kha-Rez - draconian barbarian

Mossmullet (Ungart) - dwarfley cleric

Orsek Ungart - dwarfley barbarian wizard

Red Shpee - elfin rogue

Wilfred Fizzlebang - gnomic paladin

First we searched the forbidden room, and then went to the next room on the map.

It was the room of water, and it had a pool of water and debris. The water was crystal clear, and appeared to be harmless, but very cold. After Orsek got close enough to the debris, he realized they were skeletons. We defeated the skeletons, surviving with but a scratch.

We went to the “Howard” room next, which split into several paths. Wilfred and Hugh took some dry paint and plaster from a room with paintings of the original inhabitants of Quasqueton. We also found mining equipment and some zombies. We fought the zombies, smashing them to bits.

We went to the spider room next, burning away webs. We found a passage leading to talking spiders. We fought the spiders, smashing them to bits.

In the next leg of the dungeon, we found a strange glowing rock. Red remembered a rumor that this would give us wishes, so we each put part of the rock in our mouth, and made a wish. None came true, but Bilbo became more dextrous, Wilfred’s short sword became more powerful, Mossmullet disappeared for a short time and Hugh Kha-Rez didn’t change at all (ha!). Very little happened to the other characters. As we traveled, we found very little down the path we took, so we turned back to take an extended rest in the painting room.

Party Experience Gained
Combat:  86 each
Exploration:  120 each

Down and Almost Out [session 15]

Adventurers Present

Bilbo - hobbitish rogue

Hugh Kha-Rez - draconian barbarian

Mossmullet (Ungart) - dwarfley cleric

Orsek Ungart - dwarfley barbarian wizard

Red Shpee - elfin rogue

Wilfred Fizzlebang - gnomic paladin

The adventurers continued their exploration of the lower level of Quasqueton, this time making good speed and covering the remainder of that level.  First up was the room with the pool of water, which proved relatively uninteresting other than a 15’ deep pool of icy-cold water, and a pile of indiscernible refuse on the other side of the pool from the entrance.  Only a narrow, acrobatically-challenging ledge led past the deep pool, and so the unarmored Orsek shimmied across to explore.  Unfortunately, what he found on the other side was 5 skeletons, who roused themselves to slay the lively dwarf.  Naturally, they screamed a shriek of 1,000 dying babies as they did so.  But Orsek survived the undead onslaught, and burned their boney bits to ash with his Burning Hands.

The adventurers next braved the rooms of the Humans (Howards?), where they discovered a small warren of carved-wall rooms, a staircase leading up to the upper level of the dungeon, and 6 zombinoids.  This undead challenge proved more difficult than the skeletons.  Each time the cursed rotters got knocked down, they just sprang back up again.  The unfortunate situation might have continued indefinintely until the inevitable demise of the living, except that first Orsek and then Bilbo managed the well-placed headshots necessary to actually achieve a full zombie kill.  Thereafter, the group was able to decapitate the downed corpse-critters before they could revive.

The group decided to do some more lower-level exploring before heading back up the stairway, so the next encountered the giant spiders’ lair.  Actually, they also located a giant emerald laying upon the passageway floor before that.  But they next creature-encounter was a passageway blocked by sticky spiderwebs.  Cobbling together some torches from the ruins of mining equipment back in the zombie room, the heroes put the spiders’ protective webs to the torch.  The (apparently intelligent) spiders cried out their dismay by saying “Here they come!”  This interesting revelation didn’t overly faze the party, though.  They still immediately began killing the articulate arachnids.  Except for Orsek, who decided that a spider-ride was what was needed from the pony-sized creatures.  Successfully jumping upon one’s back, he managed to ride it up to the cavern ceiling, before the spider caught a nasty Chill, and shattered into ice fragments.

A very odd rock was the next encounter of interest for the group.  A large, glowing magical stone, the rumors of which proved to be inaccurate, although not completely untrue.  Instead of granting a wish to a person who breaks off a chip and places it in his mouth, the magical stone simply did random, magical things to that person.  Bilbo got a dexterity boost, Mossmullet got teleported to another room, Fizzlebang’s shortsword was magically enchanted into a +1 sword, Orsek got a charisma boost, and Hugh Kha-Rez was temporarily rendered an idiot by the magical boulder (we did actually notice a before-and-after difference).  If there was an effect on Red Shpee, they did not notice it.

Having determined that the magic glowing stone had given away all the buffs and bonuses that it would, the party explored a couple more empty rooms, and then headed back toward the stairway.  They encountered some leftover goblins on the way, but handily defeated them without incident.  Bedding down for the night in a relatively enclosed space near the stairway, they all gave thanks that they’d survived yet another day in the depths of Quasqueton.

Next session:  Up and at ‘em!

Party Experience Gained
Combat:  86 each
Exploration:  120 each

The Sleestak Map (Quasqueton, lower level)

The adventurers got this crude map from some friendly sleestaks on the lower level.  The crudeness of the drawing / writing is solely due to the difficulty sleestaks have holding pens in their claws.  It has nothing to do with the fact the DM was in a hurry...

[click to embiggen]

Player Maps (so far)

Here are the two levels of Quasqeton that the players have mapped.  They're rather incomplete, but i'm chalking that up to the darkness and dankness in which they were made.  It's totally not just that we can't keep track of stuff...
 

Quasqueton, lower level

Quasqueton, upper level

Leaner and Meaner [session 14]

Adventurers Present

Bilbo - hobbitish rogue

Mossmullet - dwarfley (now) cleric

Orsek - dwarfley barbarian wizard

Red Shpee - elfin rogue

Wilfred Fizzlebang - gnomic (now) paladin 

As the group returned to the business of clearing out the infested caverns of Quasqueton, they found themselves slightly fewer in numbers than before.  Fortunately, they were also more focused on the tasks at hand and all immediately set off in pursuit of Jonesy the ratling (rat king?).  They tracked him through the bat cave by his footprints, and discovered they suspiciously ended at a wall.  Not surprisingly, a secret door was discovered.  Then more secret doors were revealed, leading to the discovery of the Rat King’s Treasure!  And that two-faced rodent-man, Jonesy.
 
Confronting and chastising the duplicitous ratling, the group ordered him to open one of the three treasure chests in the room.  They chose to mostly ignore the two oddly-lifelike statues which were also visibly present, or to do any further investigation of the room.  Which proved to be a mistake, because suddenly 4 more ratlings appeared, the 2 statues came to life, and all concerned attacked!  Except the slippery Jonesy, of course, who once again beat a hasty retreat in the face of danger.  He is a scavenger, after all, not a predator.
 
The battle went well for the group, with only 1 person being pummeled into unconsciousness (I’m fairly sure that’s better than average) before the beasts were all slain.  Even the discretion-oriented Jonesy met his maker, his escape thwarted this time by Red and Mossmullet.  The statues proved rather hardy, each coming back from unconsciousness/death one time, before being battered into dusty debris.  The bad guys (or at least former owners) of this cavern handily dispatched, the party turned to counting the loot.
 
And what loot it was!  In addition to well over 300 gp in coin and gewgaws, the party got its first magic item!!!  A wonderful, glowing +1 shield was discovered!  Fizzlebang, being the group’s lone character dedicated to fighter-type activities, claimed the wondrous prize.  As large as he is (the fellow’s a gnome), Fizzlebang secured his flanks from all danger as he strapped it to his back.  Huzzah!
 
That’s when the Sleestacks chose to locate the adventuring party again, and offer their thanks for killing off the goblinoid invaders.  Or maybe just to tell the party it was time to get gone?  But a critically successful attempt to influence the lizardlings resulted in them fixing and filling out the party’s map for them.  Huzzah again!
 
The party then went exploring again, newly armed with their superior info.  They navigated themselves to a natural amphitheater baited with a stack of gems!  There were 10 of the bright, shiny objects, and the acquisitive gleaming proved too much to resist.  The 12 stirges which attacked the group, however, did not.  They were resisted successfully, dying loud and bloody deaths and splattering the group with extracted gnome-blood (which is apparently the flavor of candied walnuts?).

The gems were interesting, primarily for the involving and interactive manner in which the players got to roll for each gem’s value.  In an inspired use of his previously-earned Inspiration, Orsek attempted to kick-start the group’s fortunes by substituting a 30-sided die for a 6-sided valuation roll.  While the unfortunate roll didn’t bear much fruit, the thought and planning behind it were appreciated and admired by all…who stood to gain from it.  Seriously!
 
The group took a long rest, and then ventured over to the FORBIDDEN ROOM.  Opening the door to the crescent-shaped FORBIDDEN ROOM, the party found…wait for it…two gold pieces, sitting stacked one upon the other, smack-dab in the middle of the floor.  Not at all suspicious.  But…once again the shininess and the goldiness proved too much for the avaricious adventurers.  The brown ooze which dropped from the ceiling, barely missing Fizzlebang’s head, came as, well, not exactly a surprise.  What did surprise the group, you ask?  Three things:  1) the ooze was immune to pointy damage (shocker), 2) cutting the ooze resulted in two smaller oozes to kill (OK, slightly shocking), and 3) literally shocking the ooze was completely ineffective (shocking!  Or, not shocking?  Un-shocked?).  The putrid pseudopodia scored a brutal acid-bath bashing blow on everyone’s favorite gnome, thus illuminating why the Sleestacks memorialized their disinclination to visit.  Thereafter, Orsek and Mossmullet’s cold spells helped to crystallize and damage the grungy gunk, and blunt fry-pans brought the encounter (and the session) to a close.  In a final moment of soul-searching introspection, Fizzlebang allowed that there might have been good reason for the cavern to be named FORBIDDEN.
 
Next up – the Pool of Water!  Exciting!  Or at least wet!

Party Experience Gained
Combat:  150 each
Exploration:  150 each

Session 14

Adventurers Present

Bilbo - hobbitish rogue

Mossmullet - dwarfley (now) cleric

Orsek - dwarfley barbarian wizard

Red Shpee - elfin rogue

Wilfred Fizzlebang - gnomic (now) paladin 

The adventurers, with their bodies aching and their minds angered, discussed a plan to find the traitor, Jonesy. They found footsteps in the grime, following them down a cave. They hit a wall, but knew that they could keep travelling, for the cost of teleportation was too high for a simple cave ratling. They found a secret door, and they kept forging on. They found two secret doors, and one had statues and chests behind it. Before checking the other one, they decided to loot the chests. Before they could, the statues began to attack and ratlings flooded in to take their revenge, all of them while Jonesy was hiding behind a chest. They defeated the vermin and their large figurines, including Jonesy as he tried to flee.

They decided to use the second secret door, but they found themselves in a room that they recognized. They were discovered by the sleestacks, who were friendly and gave them a map. They discussed where they would go next using the map.

They decided on the Hall of Eggs, where they found several gems and were attacked by stirges, which they defeated. They took a long rest then travelled to the Forbidden Door. They found two gold coins, which they decided to pick up. Suddenly they were attacked by a slimy cube. This monster, too, they bested in combat.

Party Experience Gained
Combat:  150 each
Exploration:  150 each

The Eight Points of Chaos [unlucky session 13]

So.  There were eight heroes who awoke in Quasqeton.  Eight characters trying to pick the best direction to adventure.  Eight voices fighting to be heard.  In short, a cacophony.  Thus started the day, and the chaos rarely clarified.

Still, progress was made.  Leaving the security of the secret door-ledge guardroom, the party happened upon a wandering carrion crawler.  The mob of adventurers made short work of it, and scored a happy windfall of visceral jewelry upon dissecting the disgusting beast.  Then it was back across the pit-trap, and on into uncharted territory.  A large cavern contained a giant spider, which Robinhood slew with a well-placed arrow [editor's note: i think this was actually a well-placed javelin thrown by the party gnome, Wilfred].  A horde of seven screaming skeletons then descended upon the group, and a general melee ensued.  Sadly, the party forgot their previous hard-won knowledge about the futility of trying to stabby-pointy a fleshless construction of bones, so the combat went less-well than it should have.  Eventually, however, the undead had their “un”s bashed into dust, thus returning them to a more properly dead state.

From there, the group followed Mossmullet’s misguided musings that, since the dungeon was only rumored to have two levels, taking the passage which went down (rather than one of the two which remained level) would likely lead to a quicker off-shoot of the caverns.  That advice proved quite wrong, as they found the largest cavern yet (which is reportedly filled with bats).  Exploring brought them to a low-roofed passage inhabited by four rat-folk.  Some pointless discussion devolved into threats and then blows, and the rattlings were quickly subdued.  But not before Robinhood inexplicably attempted to bite one of them while in combat (perhaps he’s rabid?  Should we be concerned?).  The lone surviving critter begged for mercy, promising to show the group the “rat-king’s treasure”.  The heroes decided that the survivor deserved some leniency for ratting out his king, at least until the treasure was in hand.  But the dirty rat led them into a rat-trap instead!  Attacking in groups, seven giant rats beset the adventuring party.  Meanwhile, the ratting ratling slipped out through a rat hole, and made good his escape.  The party defeated the rats, and explored another cavern filled with columns and not much else.   And thus ended the slowest of dungeon crawls to date, notable primarily for endless debate, disarming a shrieking skeleton, attempting nibbling on a murderous ratling, and a general disorganized shamble of an exploration.

But great minds are already working upon a top-down reorganization of the mob of dopey do-gooders, and forming them into a more efficiently effective team.  Hopes remain high that the reign of cacophony, chaos and confusion will come to an end, and be replaced by motion, direction and leadership.  And if not, well, it was still fun, and there really isn’t any great urgency in getting to whatever awaits us at…White Plume Mountain!
   

Area Map

Here, at long last, is the map of the area we are adventuring in.  Sorry I can't draw.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[click to embiggen]

And, if you really want it, here's an even bigger version (brace yourself, it's close to 5 mb) suitable for printing.

The Treasure Map!

The adventurer's finally recovered Nuno's treasure map, and it has a poem written on the back.  Here they are:

[click to embiggen]

[click to embiggen]

Seek & Destroy [session 12]

Bilbo, Mossmullet, Orsek, Red Shpee, and Wilfred Fizzlebang set off into the heavy forest in pursuit of the fleeing goblinoids.  They used their many skills and abilities to chase down first one group of goblins & spiders, and then another.   There was also evidence (in the form of deceased corpses) that the woods are alive with goat men, who are attacking the goblins on multiple occasions.

The first group of refugee goblinoids consisted of 4 goblins, a bugbear, and 2 giant spiders.  Bilbo and Orsek launched into destruction mode, slaying all 4 goblins and grievously wounding the bugbear in fairly short order.  A group effort was required to finish off the spiders, while the bugbear continued on the fight for multiple rounds, the last goblinoid standing.  Eventually, Fizzlebang Chilled him right into the grave, ending his life despite the fact he still had so much to live for.  In a rather grizzly but ultimately fortunate turn of events, Orsek took the goblin captain's head as a memento of the encounter.  (This came in useful later, when the group happened upon a couple of the goat people who live in this strange forest.  Presenting the decapitated goblin head, the party was able to charm their way out of any violent encounter with the restless natives.)

The heroes were briefly confused when investigation revealed no continuing path to follow.  But a little back-tracking and successful tracking revealed that another group had split away (with the heavy object the group was dragging).  So the intrepid party of five continued on, avoiding spider web traps and walking into a rear-guard of 2 goblins armed with shortbows.  The battle began, with goblins shooting Bilbo, and then stabbing Fizzlebang to (near) death before being taken down by arrows and chilling spells.

After a quick regroup and healing of Fizzlebang, the group then set off after the final grouping of goblin folk.  They were eventually located, as the group came upon them in a clearing.  However, the long-anticipated final showdown with the big goblin boss did not play out as the group had anticipated; even as the group surged into the clearing to take on their goblin foes, all concerned were confronted with...a green dragon!  Before any member of the group could so much as sneeze, the dragon breathed a cone of poison gas upon their erstwhile prey, immediately killing the lesser goblins and damaging the bugbear bossman to the point of driving him into a killing fury.  The bugbear then charged the dragon, and the group was treated to these two deadly enemies waging war upon each other!

While these mighty monsters made mutual melee, the heroes had the luxury of picking which target to punish first.  They wisely chose to attack the dragon, while letting the bugbear serve as a proxy victim for the dragon’s deadly attentions.  Arrows, spells and even some desperate unarmed grappling by Orsek ensued.  "I will lose (g)no(me) more, I’ve already lost too many!"  Orsek yelled at the dragon, in an inspired fit of (unintentional?) punning.  Gnome Fizzlebang smartly skirted the skirmish, and instead turned his attentions to recovering and safeguarding the bug-boss’s discarded treasure chest.  As Orsek grappled and choked the young wyrmling, many spells and weapons proved ineffective against its draconic defenses.  The bugbear, possibly coming to his senses and smelling certain defeat in the air, took to his heals and surrendered the battlefield to the others present, taking his pet spider with him.  The embattled dragon took to the air, first shaking Orsek off and throwing him for a fall, and then turning his deadly-bad breath against the Ungart cousins.  Thankfully, the dwarven resilience allowed them to survive the deadly oral attentions, and a further round of moderately painful attacks convinced the young dragon to turn and run.  Well, more "fly" than actually "run".  As the beast attempted to flee, and gust of Varga’s windy will proved effective in preventing the flying fiend’s untimely departure.  With a final heroic effort, the party managed to slay the slippery serpent.  Which actually exposed a potentially fatal flaw in the group’s plan: the dragon nearly fell upon Mossmullet (shout out to Orsek for a dashing flying tackle/save!), and did fall upon Fizzlebang.  Crushing him to (again near) death.  The surviving party members pulled Fizzlebang from under the downed dragon, and Sparing the Dying and Cure Wounds brought the wizard back to the world of the living.

Taking only the time for some quick victory discussion, and to scoop up the treasure from the goblins' chest, the intrepid adventurers set out after their fled bugbear foe.  Although tired, injured and dangerously short on ammunition, the heroes caught and killed the hapless bugbear, who’d stumbled into yet another encounter with the indigenous goat-men of the forest.  The goat folk appreciated the groups spirited sacking of their mortal goblinoid enemies, and allowed the party to recover the fabled Treasure Map from the deceased bugbear’s corpse, and to dismember the dragon for trinkets and trophies, before (somewhat pointedly) escorting them out of their woodland retreat.

And so the party returned once more to the tunnels of Quasqueton, where they settled in once more for a long and well-earned rest.  They examined their booty, and discovered good value in the gems and gold from the chest, as well as a glowing ruby with unknown magical properties (which they can hopefully suss out with sufficient examination).

Thus ended the immediate quests which had brought the heroes so far from their comfortable homes and civilized surrounds, and out into the dangerous forests and caverns.  But with Nuno's Map in hand, and a half-explored dungeon still awaiting their explorations, it seems clear that the group’s adventures are far from complete...