In Search of the Unknown Session 0

I started a new online adventure, or series of adventures, we will see. I used the In Search of the Unknown rewrite I made for Swords & Wizardry. I advertised the adventure on Roll20 and had four players request invites. Only 2 players showed up for the game. I felt just two (even with NPCs or Henchmen) would be too light for Quasqueton. So we did a sort of session zero. We used Roll20 for voice, video, and dice rolls. Theatre of the Mind for maps. I did share some artwork. Everything worked fairly well from a technical standpoint. I have not tried to use the Roll20 native chat for a long time and it worked fine. I did have Discord ready as a backup.

I used a rewritten Village of Larm adventure from Brave Halfling Publishing. I redid the village map and a lot of the descriptions. I also redid maps of two of the short adventures. Everything was also rewritten for Swords & Wizardry. The players seemed to enjoy it. We still managed to come very near to a total party kill. We were one saving throw die roll away from it. But in the end, only one character died, and it was one of the NPCs I had tag along.

As far as where we go next, I will leave that up to the players. I have dangled a few hooks for further adventures in the village and they still have Quasqueton looming in the background.

Below is the session report.

Session 0: In Search of the Unknown

Players: Marta the Cautious (Human cleric 1), Manny Lightfoot (Halfling Thief)

Manny Lightfoot a female halfling wanderer and sometime collector of missing goods arrived in the village of Larm following up on stories of the stronghold of Rogahn and Zelligar. Known as Quasqueton, the word was that the founders of the stronghold have perished somewhere in the north leaving untold treasures unguarded. Unfortunately, no one seems to know where exactly Quasqueton is located.

Manny stopped at the Borderland Tavern hoping to pick up some information. She conversed with the owner and fellow halfling Haldo Bramwise. Haldo appeared to know little beyond what is commonly known about Quasqueton and nothing about its location. He did put Manny onto a local problem, namely the Forbidden Temple of Law located a short distance from Larm. This also got the attention of pious Marta the cleric of St. Cuthbert who was sitting enjoying his second lunch. Marta’s interest was piqued by the chance to make right a fallen temple of law. Marta is a former cloistered monk who has been encouraged by his order to head out into the world and right wrongs and convert non-believers (and to stop dipping into the wine).

Manny felt that just the two of them might not be enough to clear the temple. So she started looking for likely candidates to add some muscle to the group. Her eyes fell on an unlikely pair. Seeful the Unforgiving of the Church of St. Aleena and his friend Alho Rengate. Seeful was reedy thin and old seemingly not cut out for the adventuring life. But his companion Alho was every inch the adventurer. Over six feet tall of muscle he had the look of someone with northern barbarian blood.

From the Left Manny, Seeful, Marta and Alho approaching the boarded up Temple.

The four stopped at the local temple of Law to get some information and then set out for the temple. It was only a short walk up the hill overlooking the village. A dark and foreboding place built like a fortress. The front entrance was securely barricaded with beams and a large log. Even Alho could not budge the barricade. Manny commented that it looked like it was done to keep something in the Temple. The side entrance, however, was only barred by three planks of wood. Marta removed the boards with ease. They entered the temple and found it undamaged but full of drifting ash or soot. Everything was covered in layers of black dust. In a small confessional off of the nave, Marta discovered a skeleton wearing the robes of a monk. The skeleton attacked but Marta destroyed it. Examing the skeleton Marta found a Book of Law (prayer book) and surmised from the robes that the skeleton was that of one of the unfortunate monks of the temple who perished 30 years ago when the Temple fell.

The group made their way into the cellars where Marta twice got them past more skeletons of monks using the power of St. Cuthbert to turn them. The skeletons fled from his holy light. They also managed to get past a stone guardian that required proof that each of them was a follower of Law before allowing them to proceed.

Finally, in the crypt of Thorlief the founding abbot of the temple, they found the source of its downfall. A ceremony had been performed to destroy an evil tome by burning it. Something had gone horribly wrong transforming the monks of the Temple into the undead. In this crypt were the remnants of that ceremony and two horrid ghouls.

The ghouls attacked immediately and a desperate struggle ensued. Alho and Marta were in the front and were the first to come under attack. Marta was hit but survived but Alho was not so lucky. The fighter was killed in the first attack. Manny fired sling bolts from the door while Marta continued to tussle with one ghoul and Seeful fought the other. Seeful was hit and fell to the cold stone floor paralyzed. Marta had dispatched one ghoul but the second got past him and hit Manny, paralyzing the halfling. Now Marta was alone against the remaining ghoul.  A long and exhausting fight ensued as both combatants sought to dodge out of the way of the others strikes. The ghoul hit Marta but the doughty cleric fought off the creepy paralyzation with the force of his will. Marta then struck the ghoul twice finally destroying it.

Near TPK in the Temple

It took 2 hours for Seeful and Manny to recover from the effects of the ghoul attacks. Once they had recovered they opened the crypt of the abbot to check on his corpse. The body was undisturbed but he did clutch a beautiful mace. The decision was made not to disturb the body and leave the treasure where it was.

On leaving the crypt, Manny checked out one side room and discovered a hidden niche that held a wooden box holding a magic short sword. This sword came in useful as the three adventurers climbed up to the nave of the temple and found the five skeletons waiting for them. Marta turned two of them and the skeletons fled out into the sunlight. One of the remaining skeletons knocked down Seeful who was now near death. Manny destroyed two skeletons with his new sword and Marta and dispatched the final one. Marta picked up the limp body of Seeful and ran down the hill to the village church where the abbot was able to revive him.

The heroes returned to Larm and caused a big stir in the local population with tales of their exploits. At the local church, Manny surprised Marta by donating the two fine silver candle stands she had found in the cellar of the Temple. At the local tavern, Manny regaled locals with every more embellished tales of their exploits. So much so that Haldo suggested she and Marta go talk to the local miller who had a problem he needed to be sorted.

Nantwin the miller explained that giant rats had gotten into his cellar where he stored the village’s grain. He was no longer able to refine the grain into flour. One of the local boys had gone down into the cellar but he had never come back. The local militia was called but too many of their forces were out looking for marauding orcs.

Manny and Marta agreed to help. They learned that the Mayor was offering a reward and Manny negotiated the amount to 80 gold coins. Entering the cellar by a ladder they quickly found that there were at least six giant rats amongst grain sacks in one of the storage rooms. Manny announced she had an idea and lead Marta back up into the mill. Heading next door to the smith Burin, they asked the dwarf to make them some small spring-like metal spikes. Then Manny went across the street to the grocer and obtained some spoiled meat chopped into chunks. Bending the spikes they put them into the chunks of meat. Back in the mill cellar, they tossed the meat at the giant rats.

After a long wait, they descended into the cellar and found a pile of lifeless looking rats. Just as Marta got close to the pile of rats, two of them leaped forward and attacked. But Marta and Manny managed to put them down. Checking another storage room they found it undisturbed and full of sacks of grain. In the last storage room, they found the corpse of the local youth, a hole in the wall and a pool of water. Marta began blocking the hole with sacks of grain but three giant centipedes rushed out and attacked. He quickly dispatched two and the last one fled back into the hole which he completely closed off.

Marta and Manny returned to the miller and told him of their success. Nantwin the miller was broke but he did offer to get them free bread from the local bakery whenever they wanted any.

The Village of Larm (Players Map)