Directions

 Last week the players closed off a chapter in the on-going Swords & Wizardry campaign when they killed the Rat King. He had been a nemesis for about 14 sessions. I have a large adventure planned but I did not want to force the direction of the players so I put out some hints for several short adventures. Some of which would bring clues for the bigger adventure. For this session, the players hit on two of the hooks and decided to go after both of them. Both adventures are recognizable re-writes of adventures published by Creations' Edge Games.

I am making maps for the Roll20 interface when we play. I do not think I would have done this if this was a face-to-face game. Battle maps really help when playing in Roll20. A lot of the time I just have to describe the main features of an area and add some mood. The players can see on the map if there is something of interest. But this also means a lot of preparation time, making maps and this necessarily means that the choices will be limited.

Session 28: Bell, Book, and Candle.

Players: Lakima (Magic-user), Eathwund (Fighter), Carric (Elven Thief), Domago (Human cleric NPC), Lantosh (Human Fighter NPC), Dag Icefoot (Dwarf Fighter NPC).

As the session opens the heroes are resting after killing the Rat King in the sewers beneath the town of Edgerton. Lakima hands the scroll tube they found on the body of the cleric to Domago who opens it and finds a note.

“I am staying at the Duchess Maria Inn just outside town.

I need a safe hiding place in town that is hidden but close to my target’s home.

My patron pays well and you owe me.

Contact me soon - Tamea.”

The note details contact between the Necromancer Talmea Pak who they have tangled with before and the Rat King. It also suggests she is in Town and planning to kill their patron Malyn the wizard. Before leaving, Lakima comments they need a trophy to prove that the Rat King is dead. Domago says that no one in town knew what the Rat King looked like anyway. This gives Lakima an idea and he asks Carric to cut the head off of a dead wererat which is much easier to carry than the enormous Rat King. The gold, silver, and even copper coins are scooped into bags and they haul everything out into the daylight. Local merchants and townspeople are pretty shocked to see them emerge from the sewers. Carric pulls the rat head from a sack and openly waves it around in the Low Market letting people know that the Rat King is dead.

Everyone returns to the Chapter House. Lakima lets everyone know he is going to take the note from Talmea to Malyn. Lakima arrives at the Apothecary and finds that Malyn has a new young apprentice called Roberto. He shows Malyn the note. Malyn excitedly tells Lakima to head over to the Inn immediately. Lakima asks about the pay and Malyn becomes annoyed. Then he decides he has had enough of being held prisoner in the shop. He states, “I will take care of this myself!” and then he vanishes. The door opens and closes. Lakima shrugs to Humbert and leaves.

Carric heads over to the Duchess Maria Inn to do a little snooping. He takes in the people in the room looking for any sign of Talmea. But he does not see anyone that matches her description. After a few hours, there's a commotion upstairs in the rented rooms. A guest complains that there is a ghost moving through the rooms’ opening doors. The staff manages to convince the guest to go back to his room. Carric stays until early in the morning when he is asked to leave. He returns to the Chapter House.

The group meets over breakfast. Carric mentions the strange occurrence at the Inn. Lakima mentions his conversation with Malyn. Over breakfast, the manservant Huntley repeatedly goes to the door to chase off callers. Lakima gets up to answer the next door knock and finds a man begging. Drawn by word that this is a place the poor can come for hand-outs. Lakima threatens to curse the man with magic and chases him off. Carric decides to head off to learn more about the hangings. Lakima places a note on the door to discourage beggars.

Carric heads over to the Low Market and meets with the street urchins who roam the area. He tells them about a crate full of daggers he left in the Rat King’s Lair and lets them know the Rat King is dead. Carric asks Maik to call all of the urchins together later in the day.

Back at the Chapter House there is a knock at the door. Lakima waves off Huntley and goes to the door to chase off another beggar. But on the doorstep is a young librarian from the Library of Antiquity located in Edgerton. The librarian introduces himself as Amras. He tells Lakima that the Librarians need the help of the Company of the Black Dragon and asks them to come to meet with the Head Librarian. Lakima promises to bring the proposal to his comrades.

Eathwund heads out intent on finding a better shield. He takes Dag with him who tells him he knows just the place. The smith who made his Dwarven Ax. The smith is a human but his work is good enough to pass for Dwarven. They head together to Cromly’s Smithy. At the smithy, they find Cromly is sullen and withdrawn. Dag shrugs and tells Eathwund that he has never seen the smith like this. Cromly hears Eathwund is looking to improve his shield. He nods and asks if he is a member of the watch. Eathwund tells Cromly about the Company of the Black Dragon. Once Cromly hears that he is an adventurer for hire his tone becomes very excited. He is in desperate need of some adventurers. He needs some Rock Ape teeth. Six to be exact for a commission piece and he needs it in a hurry. He explains that he entered a contest to bring attention to his shop. The Baron Vorloi is commissioning a ring. He never expected to win. He does not normally make rings. But his design won. The jewel crafters and silversmiths in town were outraged. The problem is his design needs Rock Ape teeth. He does not have any. He tells Eathwund that he will pay 6,000 gold for the teeth. He needs them within a week. Dag immediately accepts the commission, then realizes it is not his place. Eathwund tells Cromly that he will have to check with the full crew. The conversation then returns to the shield improvements Eathwund is hoping for. Cromly tells him he will enchant the shield for 850 gold and it will be ready tomorrow.

Lakima, Eathwund, Carric, Dag, Lantosh, and Domago meet at the Chapter House and discuss what they should do next. No one has seen Kal or Grimble since they were paid the previous day. Lakima learns of the commission for Rock Ape teeth. The pay looks really good but no one knows where to find rock apes. Lakima suggests that the librarians might be able to help with this. So they agree to take both jobs. Carric and Lakima argue about paying the bounty they offered for information on the Rat King to the urchin Snipe. Carric is concerned it will bring more trouble to the urchins than it will help. Lakima is more concerned with the reputation of the Dragons. Carric meets with the urchins, finding they have taken over Fleetwing Stables. He asks them what they would do with 100 gold. Maik answers that they share everything. Many of the urchins seem unsure about that statement. Carric gives the 100 gold bounty to Snipe. He suggests the gang buy the building they are currently squatting in. He counsels them about being careful with the newfound wealth.

Once everyone returns they head over to meet the Head Librarian Dellik. He tells them that a Librarian named Marcus was cast out when he was found to be studying proscribed books. When he left he told them he placed a curse on Bell, Book, and Candle. They did not think much of it at the time but the next day when librarians entered they were attacked by phantoms and two were killed. One Librarian escaped and locked the doors. Now they are locked out. He asks the adventurers to remove the cursed items from the library with as little damage as possible. The heroes agree to do the job the next morning. They need time to prepare. He can only manage to pay 500 gold but he does offer the services of the library. Lakima asks the Head Librarian about Rock Apes. The Head Librarian does have some information and a Librarian named Vexius is called into the room who is an expert on magical creatures. Vexius mentions a few details of Rock Apes and tells of a recent incursion of Rock apes in a copper mine nearby.

The next morning the group head out to the Library with Amras. At the Library they find the doors still locked. Amras unlocks the doors and explains the library layout to them and suggests where the items might be located. They were kept in the Hall of Magic. He also asks them to keep an eye out for the caretaker Robin.

They enter the library. In the first hall, they see the bodies of the two librarians who were killed. The shelves extend to the ceiling full of books and scrolls. There are signs of disturbance. Books and loose sheets of paper lie scattered across the floor. The group head to their left with Carric in the lead. In the first room, they enter they see a lit candle in a silver holder floating in the air at a height of three feet. Carric spots three animated shadows in the shape of humans that fly toward the group. The shadows move directly through the sunlight entering the hall from the ceiling without any noticeable effect. As Carric and Dag approach two more shadows emerge from the candle. Five shadows face the heroes. Domago tries to turn them and nothing happens. The shadows also ignore his Protection from Evil spell. The shadows attack and Lantosh is hit and drained of Strength. Carric rushes the candle and tries to pull a sack over it but the candle burns right through the sack. Lakima yells for everyone to disbelieve the shadows but it does not seem to work. Lakima casts Atanzabar’s Acrid Finger on the candle but it just splatters off - some of the acid striking Carric. As Lakima approaches the candle another shadow emerges. Just when things start to get desperate, Lakima pinches out the candle with his fingers. The candle drops to the tiled floor and the shadows vanish. Everyone is relieved and a little mystified.

Lantosh and Eathwund check in the Caretakers’ room and find it empty. They find evidence that the caretaker was working on improving his language skills but nothing more. They continue on into the next hall. As they enter the Hall of Magic a gold bell raises up from a desk and rings out a sharp, ringing, tone three times. Glass vials in several of the adventurer's packs shatter. Magical potions drain out of packs. More importantly, Eathwund and Lantosh’s armor cracks and bends permanently damaged. Carric rushes forward and stuffs cloth around the bell’s clapper and puts the entire bell in his pack. As they are talking Carric is startled as he feels something brush past his shoulder. Soon several of the adventurers report near misses with something. Until Dag is struck and Eathwund feels something strike his shield. Lakima empties his pieces of chalk on the desk and yells at Domago to crush it and throw it on the invisible attacker. Domago crushes the chalk with his mace and gathers up a handful. When he is struck he tosses the chalk in the air. The chalk falls over a roughly human-sized shape. Everyone immediately attacks the shape and the invisible stalker collapses to the floor.

Lakima tells everyone to look for the Copper Book. He suspects it might be in this chamber and created the invisible stalker. But the copper book is not in the Hall or even the next hall. They find it - or it finds them in the Hall of Monsters. The book flies out of a bookshelf and it is immediately recognized as it has copper covers. The book opens and more books fly off of the shelves to the copper book. Soon a roughly humanoid shape has formed - a Book Golem. The golem lumbers towards Eathwund and attacks. Hitting Eathwund with both fists badly injuring him. Domago rushes to Eathwund’s side to cast Cure Light Wounds. With the Book Golem concentrating on Eathwund Carric and Lakima are able to attack from behind. Lakima attacks with the Staff of Striking. Carric decides to try to close the copper book. He leaps on the Golem and climbs up its back. He grabs the book covers and tries to close the book but it will not budge. The golem fights off Carric and throws him down to the ground.

The fight continues, the heroes surround the Book Golem, and with every hit, books fall off the golem or pages fall out of the books. The golem continues to track Carric and strikes the elf with both fists. Carric is smashed to the floor battered and bloodied. As other heroes step up Carric drags himself out of the fray. Finally, Lakima gets the final hit with the Staff of Striking. With a flash of power, the books collapse in a pile on the floor. Lakima grabs the Copper book and ties it shut with some cloth.

With all three cursed items in hand, the heroes start to head for the exit. They keep their eyes open for the caretaker Robin and find him hiding in the Feywild Hall behind some barrels. They take him to the exit to meet with Amras. After a brief conversation with Amras they head back to meet with the Head Librarian. He is overjoyed to hear that the threat has been removed. He does inquire about the cursed items but Lakima assures him they will take care of them. The Head Librarian does not have the gold he promised yet but he does make good on the promise of providing information about the Rock Apes. There is supposed to be some in a Copper Mine at the village of Whetwhistle about a day's ride from Edgerton along the Crescent River.

Sewer Map

This past weekend the players descended into the sewers - finally. This part of the campaign has been ready to go for four sessions but the players have been avoiding it. I believe because they were concerned about a fight on the Rat King's home ground.

I have been struggling with the right way to map the sewers. At first, I had a compact portion of the sewers mapped with the Cheese Factory Cellar and the Rat King's Lair. To prevent the players from wandering off the map I blocked the passages with narrow pipes connecting sections. Assuming the players would not want to submerge in sewer muck.

In the lead up to enter the sewers in a previous session, one player character became obsessed with finding an entrance to the sewers across town from the Cheese factory at the river. This despite their having seen an entrance in the factory. I had one of his informants show another manhole style entrance near the Factory. But he still showed interest in the river.

To cover this eventuality I came up with a map of the entire sewer network under the town. This was too big a map to load into Roll20 so I had it split up into nine pieces. But I felt this was a terrible move logistically. So I ended up creating one enormous, detailed map. Rather than loading it into Roll20 as is, I reduced the size to only 10%. The end result was of manageable size but blurry. So I took snap-shots of the key areas at full resolutions as battle maps.

In the end, the players used informants to find the location of the Rat King's Lair in the sewers and they did not spend much time on the map I spent all week working on. Oh well.

The final battle with King Rat occurred which closed out a long-running villain in the campaign. I wrote up King Rat as an intelligent Giant Rat of enormous size. With three attacks there was a good chance he might be a troublesome foe. In the session, the fighter ended up one-on-one with the Rat King for 4 rounds. He should have been mauled. For three rounds I managed 1 hit on three attacks per round. Finally, in the fourth round, the Rat King hit 3 times and almost killed the fighter. It lacked the punch I was hoping for but I think it was just bad rolls.

The session this week had another new Player. So I had five players in total and three NPCs to handle. We did have a few moments where more than one player talked at once. But it worked out okay.

Session 27: Lair of the Rat King

Players: Lakima (Magic-user), Eathwund (Fighter), Carric (Elven Thief), Grimble (Human Fighter), Kal the Bear (Human fighter), Domago (Human cleric NPC), Lantosh (Human Fighter NPC), Dag Icefoot (Dwarf Fighter NPC).

As the session opens Lakima states his intention to question the wererat that he charmed in the fight at the Cheese Factory and turned over to the Watch. Grimble says he would like to come along. Everyone else is busy watching the hippogriffs or at other places in town. Lakima and Grimble arrive at the Watch Station and ask to see the prisoner. Sergeant Frans takes them to see Grendel Orfman. Lakima tells him he meant the wererat Kirnon. Sergeant Frans tells them the wererat was taken to the castle and tried. He is due to be executed tomorrow. They do ask Grendel some questions but he has nothing to add. They head over to the Castle (Edger’s Hold) and get permission to question the wererat prisoner. The guard tells them that the man is crazy, always talking to himself. As they approach the cell in the dungeon they do hear a one-sided conversation. Once they enter the cell it is clear that Lakima’s charm spell is still holding. The man is happy to see him and tells him that he was just talking to a giant rat sent by the Rat King. They are planning on getting him out. Unfortunately, the wererat also does not know King Rat's location. He took orders from a cleric called Nat. Lakima tells the guard to move the wererat to a new cell that is not so far underground. 

Sometime later with most of the order back at the Chapter House, they begin to plan. Lantosh heads out to relieve Eathwund. At the hippogriff wagon, Eathwund is approached by a powerfully built human with a large sword on his back. The man introduces himself as Kal and says he is a mercenary looking for work. Despite the company being fairly full of hirelings, Eathwund offers the stranger a job. Lantosh shows up and Eathwund shows Kal to the Chapter House.

Kal is introduced to the other heroes and given some background on their encounters with the Rat King in Edgerton. They begin discussing ways to find the location of the Rat King. The idea is to wait for the Rat King to attack and follow them back to his lair. As they talk a man comes to the shop. He introduces himself as Dakuya and he is interested in buying all four of the hippogriffs. He offers 800 gold each. Lakima leads the negotiations for the team and negotiates the price higher. Then the merchant Simion Torenescu enters and offers more for the hippogriffs. The two merchants, who seem to know each other, set off a bidding war. Just when it appears Torenescu has won the bidding an old wizard named Arturas enters the shop and offers 3,500 gold for one hippogriff. Lakima tries to spin this in their favor but Simion is determined to get all four. Baron Lucien Vorloi enters and bids on behalf of the Castellan of Edgerton but is quickly out of the running. After much haggling, they settle on selling one hippogriff to the wizard for 3,500 gold, and the other three to Simion Torenescu for 6,000 gold. Simion Torenescu arranges for the delivery of a promissory note for the payment. He agrees to pick up the hippogriffs before noon on the next day. Arturas pays in gold immediately that he takes out of what is clearly a Bag of Holding. He also gives Lakima a wooden stick claiming it is magical. As they head over to the square to get the hippogriff for Arturas they find an altercation has occurred. Some thieves tried to distract Lantosh and the Watch guard and make off with a hippogriff. Lantosh stopped them and struck one of the thieves. Unfortunately, he killed the thief so they cannot question him. The watch has just arrived to take Lantosh's statement. The senior guard tells Lakima that he recognizes the man, he is a member of a local gang that hangs out at Fleetwing Stables in Mirdton district.

The next day Carric goes over to the low market and his contact Maik tells him one of the urchins has seen what they think is the Rat King’s Lair. The boy leads Carric into the sewers and shows him the directions to the lair. The heroes leave the hirelings to guard the house and the wagon of hippogriffs and head over to Fleetwing Stables to have a talk with the local gang. They surround the small stable. Lakima casts Monster Summoning and four giant rats appear. The rats are sent into the stables and soon the sound of fighting is heard. Eathwund rushes in and sees three armed men fighting off the rats. Lakima casts sleep and all of the three men fall asleep. Carric, Kal, and Grimble burst through the back door of the stable and confront a fourth man who surrenders. Under questioning and some duress, the man admits to targeting the wagon of hippogriffs. They would not normally mess with the Company of the Black Dragon but the pay was good. He admits that the merchant Dakuya paid them to do it.

Everyone returns to the Chapter House as it is now early evening. The night passes uneventfully. The next day Lakima splits up some of the gold received from Arturas. Dag Icefoot returns from his partying and shows them his new Dwarven Axe. Kal takes some money and heads over to a local armory where he buys a suit of chainmail.

They make plans to enter the sewers. They decide to do it in daylight hours. They calmly open a sewer grate in a small square in full view of many locals and all eight heroes descend an iron ladder down into the sewers. The sewers are a 15 in diameter brick-lined tube. A channel in the center of the bottom carries water and sewage. Dry platforms are along the walls.

Carric leads them for a long walk underground to the side passage that is supposed to hold the Lair of King Rat. He scouts ahead and spots a barrier of wooden crates. Behind the crates are two wererats. The group decides on a frontal approach. The charge forward to the barrier. The wererats and some giant rats behind the barrier are well protected. But Dag, Lantosh, Grimble, and Kal leap up on the crates and attack the wererats. One wererat whistles and a horde of normal rats pile out cracks in the walls and swarm the barrier. They overwhelm and knock Dag into the sewage. Lakima casts Sleep but only a few rats are affected. Lantosh takes a hit from a sword but Kal, Eathwund, and Carric press the attack. Lakima then casts Lightning bolt and fries all of the normal rats and burns one Wererat slightly. From there the battle turns and the rats and wererats begin to fall. The last wererat retreats into a narrow side tunnel. The heroes follow but find they can only advance in a single file. Ahead they see another corridor entering and at the end of the passage is a portcullis which is down barring further progress. Carric finds himself in the lead and fighting the wererat desperately. A giant rat appears and attacks as well. Carric manages to kill the wererat using his sword. The giant rat is killed by Eathwund.

Carric checks the side corridor and finds a small room with a table, some stools, and a pair of crates. Ahead Eathwund spots the Rat King. The Rat King is an enormous 20-foot-long, 8-foot tall rat. As they approach the portcullis, the giant rat speaks to them. Inviting them in. The portcullis rises up and King Rat invites them in to talk, calling out Eathwund and Lakima by name. The Rat King dismisses Lakima’s question about his helping the necromancer Talmea. That was just business he states. They can now do business together.

They cautiously enter the chamber and see King Rat, an enormous rat resting on a mound of green, pulsating cheese. They also spot a huge pile of gold coins. Near King Rat is a human whom King Rat refers to as Nat in their conversation. The chamber is divided by an 8 foot deep, 4 ½ foot wide channel through which sewage runs. As Lakima and Eathwund keep King Rat talking they try to form a plan. The channel is too far for Eathwund to leap in plate mail armor. Lakima comes up with an idea. He sends Kal back to get the wooden table in the nearby chamber. After a quick discussion, Kal drops the table with one end leaning over the channel, Grimble steps on the table to keep it steady and then Eathwund rushes across the table and leaps for the other side. Eathwund lands directly in front of a startled Rat King in a pile of gold, silver, and copper coins. Kal follows Eathwund but he is a little short on his jump and he hits the far wall and falls into the channel. Then Lantosh runs and jumps but trips over a table leg and the entire table and Lantosh tumble into the channel. Grimble leaps aside just in time to avoid being catapulted into the channel with them.

On the other side, the human cleric casts a spell on Eathwund but it fails. Eathwund strikes at King Rat cutting him. The giant Rat bites and claws at Eathwund. Eathwund manages to stave him off with his shield. The cleric Nat casts another spell and appears to glow bluish slightly. Lakima casts Atanzabar’s Acrid Finger and burns Nat. Dag attaches his grappling hook to the portcullis and throws a rope down to Kal and Lantosh. The two men climb out of the pit. Eathwund continues to trade blows with the Rat King, all alone in his fight. The cleric, Nat tries to run away from the stream of acid coming from Lakima but the stream just follows him around. Dag hurls his grappling hook across the channel and it wraps around a pillar on the other side. He ties the other end to the portcullis and Lantosh shimmies across the pit to the other side.

Eathwund is now struck repeatedly but the Rat King and is badly hurt. Domago crosses the channel on the rope, runs to Eathwund, and casts Cure Light Wounds. Lantosh tries to attack the huge rat with his polearm but misses. Lakima’s acid stream finally kills the cleric who tumbles into the pit and lands face down in the sewage, unmoving. Eathwund finally finds an opening and slashes out the giant rat's throat. He is covered in blood and gore but the Rat King is dead.

The heroes take a moment to check the chamber. They find more than 40,000 coins but most of them are copper. They start bagging it anyway. Eathwund makes note of the giant, pulsating cheese but decides not to take a sample. They search the cleric’s body, finding his mace and a scroll tube.