this is the sixth session (or so) of my recently started DCC game in Chicago, late 2022. A recap of sessions 1-5 can be found in a previous post. They are brief, but provide some context. otherwise dive in.
The party consists of two level-2 characters, five level-1 characters, and two henchmen. The higher characters consisted of Kamaloso the dwarf, an invaluable warrior and character from session 1 and Grunch the wizard, a burgeoning magician with a knack for summoning animals, also from session 1.
The rest of the party consisted of newer characters, Smithy, a gruff veteran who had already gained the title of Troll Slayer after killing the Trollrilla of Gowrorn's Peak twice with an adamantine great-sword (a lucky find) before torching its body to a gristle. Two elves accompany them, a grumbling fellow by the name Cringismo and a falconer named Kymel. A cleric by the name of Dirty the Dirty follows their retinue and worships the verdant god Il-DaVere. Joining briefly this session also was Tim Bruise, a courageous and awfully lucky warrior.
Their henchmen consisted of two unlikely companions. Gwappo, a pariah mind slug seeking freedom, currently occupying the body of a former level-0 character Dark Dennis, a shitty wizard whose body Gwappo hates intensely. Their more recent companion was made on Gowron's Peak, a primate they named Chucks, due to his mastery over the dwarven runic nun-chucks he wields. Chucks is a sturdy little primate similar to a Uakari; long orange hair covering his body with a strikingly red, bald head. Chucks' face is half-colored in white paint smeared across his face, while a sturdy a skull cap like Zula's from Conan protects his head. He is a mighty little guy and the party fucked with him immediately.
At this point, it has been 3 and a half days since the party first broke free from the control of the mind slug cult. There have been over 20 character deaths within that time frame. All dead characters sheets are kept in a black skull chest for future use.
Session Start
The session began aboard an airship not dissimilar to an airship you would see in a JRPG, having been tricked by the Wizard Ape King, Gowron, atop his treacherous peak. The party scrambled aboard the airship like rats finding unthinkable tech while evading 9' tall Loader Bots that were trying to cube them. After defeating the loader bots in narrow hallway skirmishes through tactical use of gun-powered breast plates and pissed off summoned bears, the airship's A.I. - a dour and perturbed hologram of a bulbous-cheeked goldfish - agreed to dropping them off on the ground instead of completing the transport trek. They pilfered some cargo, most notably a single dead sapling by the cleric, Dirt, from a shipping container full of such. This was decided preferable to their destination, a crown shaped structure floating amongst the storms of the mountains deemed Cloud Ruler Station.
In truth I have not yet prepped this area, but plans are for it to be a derelict, DS9-like station where the population of cannibal dwarfs eat each other in clannish turf wars, having consumed their giant overlords ages ago and now revere their sacred gnawed bones. Something along those lines, hardcore stuff, very nasty for level 1 dweebs!
There was some heavy handed DM intervention to their agreement to land safely I’ll admit, I didn’t really want to throw them to the meat grinder that is Cloud Ruler Station. So I thought it best to have the party spared. Maybe that's "bad" or coddling of me but they weren't going to have any fun being slaughtered by me in a trapped room. I think I am here to entertain, and if we're not having fun then what's the point. The station is now a mysterious landmark, something to journey towards in the future.
On the ground again (hex 1804), they found their bearings by sighting Gowron's Peak (1605), and decided to explore southwards after spotting what looked like a ruined keep miles away some days ago while scaling the peak. They traveled quickly by night, lighting no torches, guided on foot by the dwarf and navigating thru star charting by the elf so as not to get lost in the dark of night. In the early morning hours they found themselves close to the keep (1608), and spotted firelight thru the window in one of its rooms. The party made a luck test to find a rocky outcropping to make camp and sleep thru the day to recover fully before dealing with the keep.
On first watch, the merry marching tune of goblins was heard amongst the hills, and spotted was a band of 10 goblins led by a bugbear departing the keep that early morning heading north-east. This happy band is off to dungeon dive at a ruin some hexes away (1905), it will be over 32 hours until they return to this keep.
Some astute scouting by the player revealed the following: the keep consists of 15' tall stone walls and some meters of palisades, and three major buildings, a 2 story squat stone building and dry brush thatched roof, with a 3 story high tower branching off its north side. Across the meager baily is another stone structure, with a ground floor and open air second floor. this structure was once a taller tower, maybe 4-5 stories tall, but had toppled over some time ago, its rubble seeded with hardy desert flowers. From the inside comes no commotion, its seems in daylight the occupants keep quiet.
Knowing the occupants to be goblins, the party begins their advance at dusk, setting fire to some tents outside the keep. These tents were stuffed with dry brush and placed there by the gobbo gang with bells sewn on the inside flaps to jingle when opened. The bells jingled widely as the flames licked higher into two big bonfires washing the keep in fire light. The goblins alerted, they scramble and begin to fire from the narrow windows.
A note about this goblin gang and the process i used to create it.
First, I rolled something like 6d6 goblins, because you have to start with the bottom. I ended up with around 20 goblins, not a bad start. Next i tried to think of who ruled over these gobbos, I decided to do roll a 4d: 1-orc 2-hobgoblin 3-bugbear 4-ogre. I got a Hobgoblin boss. Next I rolled the same die for a number 2 to the boss; another hobgoblin, makes sense! Now i wanted to give the gang a chance of having some heavy hitters. I went down the line for auxiliary hobgoblins, bugbears, or ogres, each having a 2in6 chance of being in the gang. Bugbears and ogres yes, so I rolled a d3 for each and the gang ended with 3 bugbears and 1 ogre.
To give the Hobgoblins some more flavor i used tarot cards just to get sense of personality and their dynamic. I ended up with Guz, their leader, being an opportunistic brute, while his second in command, Shkiva, proved to be the more of the brains handling book keeping while she oversaw dungeoneering efforts.
Regardless of all that jazz, the party made an aggressive push towards the keep slaughtering the goblin gang. One bugbear led a counter assault with 5 goblins, but their progress was halted by blinding spells and summoned alligators who one by one death rolled the gob-squad. Kamaloso the dwarf ran into the keeps baily and into a room. There she came face to with the craven runt of the bugbears, smaller and crueler than its brothers. They fought for the entire battle, sundering weapons and giving chase up steps, a desperate melee won within inches by Kamaloso.
As demoralized goblins begged for the door to open, the hinges burst forth and the heavy wood door now served as the massive shield of an ogre festooned with mismatched iron plating. Dirt, the cleric, produced forth from his satchel the dead sapling taken from aboard the airship. Tossing it at the ogre and calling upon the favor of his lord, the verdant god Il-DaVere, life breathed life back into the sapling and it grew into a mighty Juniper tree in the blink of an eye. The ogre became pinned under the tree and failing to remove it, and was slain readily by the party.
Guz attempted a ruse himself but it did not go as planned. With the assistance of the snakeman in disguise, Guz held a young and handsome fellow demanding that the party halt. It was Guz's intention to lie and say the man in captivity is a prince from the tribes of forest men to the south. These words did not escape his mouth, has Kymel unwaveringly let loose an arrow at the captive. This arrow slew the snakeman, revealing his true nature during his thrashing death hisses. Guz was shortly pierced through with many arrows and his head smashed in by a summoned gorilla.
Shkiva, the hobgoblin second in command, fought along the walls but was brought down by the arrows of Cringisimo the elf. She had 0 HP upon being defeated, and at the end of the battle had told the party what she knew in curt words before asking them to kill her. They abided, due out of no respect to her.
The keep has been won, its storehouses looted, its care now passed into the hands of its new lords. The Juniper tree was a great miracle and a blessed omen, so the party planted it within the baily of their newly conquered keep, nourished by the corpses of goblins.
With the keep secured the players now have a central point of operations, surrounding landmarks to orient themselves, a few maps from which to chart by, and a new nemesis in this untamed land. Gowron, Wizard Ape-King, stakes his claim miles to the north, while the decadent mind-controlling Slug Cult of Jygaella makes its slimy nest in the temple to the near west. I feel it is at this point where the players have started to establish themselves and are excited to further their efforts in achieving their goals of revenge and treasure seeking. They currently are on watch for any returning patrols to the keep.
There are a few things I have in my binder I'm excited for. The players were able to sus out locations from a found map of Guz. While not the brightest, Guz was a surprisingly skilled cartographer, and kept note of nearby locations of interest. This gives me an excuse to make another map for fun :)
The planting of this miraculous tree is a wealth of possibilities. With time and devotion I can see this tree turning the harsh earth of this single 5 mile hex fertile once more. Such a new holy sight will undoubtedly attract the attention of their old pals the Slug Cult (hex 1407), sensing some new deity bordering their domain. In a manner of days they might send out patrols to find its source.
A few sessions into this game I scoured the copies of the Undercroft i printed out at my old job's office and now keep in a big binder. There are two pieces in particular I'm curious to incorporate into this biome: Barrow of the Old King by Daniel Sell and (Sqwiggle Symbol) by Luke Gearing. Both align towards a history i had in mind for this geography, a fallen kingdom tainted by evil, fallen king yada yada yada. Great let's plug in and play. While I am trying to key out as many hexes myself as I can (aiming for a 70/30 ratio), I'm taking this opportunity to run all the untouched adventures ive collected by peers.
A further resource I would like to test is the use of Entheogens from the Pariah rpg as a means to access deeper consciousness or exploring the outer limits. I may also find some interest in its tools for community building, but mostly I’m excited for drugs.
While shaky at the beginning, I felt good with the session overall. I think this is thee actual start of this campaign. They have a focal location and some guys they hate. That’s all you need to start, baby. At one point the players were amazed to find over 100 gold pieces in one place. That tickled me greatly.
