Mystery at Phom Thult

Many years ago I used a Dungeon Magazine adventure in my B/X D&D campaign. The adventure was called Blood on the Snow written by Thomas M. Kane for Dungeon Magazine 03 (1987).  My D&D players were passing through the village of Pergen during the adventure and were not interested in the mystery so they left without solving the adventure.

Now a few weeks ago I used the adventure again. This time re-written for Swords & Wizardry I used it for my Conqueror Worm adventure and changed the maps but kept the rough outline. This time it went much better. At first, the players came and left but then they came back and solved the mystery. It was a different sort of adventure for this campaign but the players still seemed to enjoy it. It was also a good stretch for me as a gamemaster.

Session 118: Mystery at Phom Thult

Lakima (human magic-user), Eathwund (human fighter), Alrix (couatl sorcerer), Aldus (human cavalier), Joe Boxer (human monk), Fenris the Filch (human thief NPC), Domago (human cleric NPC).

The company of the Black Dragon is in Winterhaven trying to follow clues to the location of the White Worm. The wizard Erwin Truecase has suggested they talk to a barbarian wise woman who lives to the north in Phom Thult.

The group flies north into bitterly cold headwinds and they arrive at Phom Thult shortly after noon. The small trading post consists of a little more than a dozen wood buildings resting in a field of snow. The post is surrounded by a palisade but all of the gates are wide open and buried deep in snow. Though they see no one out in the cold they do see woodsmoke rising from chimneys above every building. The ship descends to a short distance above the snow outside the palisade. Rope ladders are tossed over the side and the party descends to the ground. They walk unchallenged into the village seeing only a single individual chopping wood. They head directly toward the largest building that Dusig tells them is the Guild Hall.

Inside they meet a pair of guards, Helm and Anja. Anja is the first Nahrok tribal warrior they have encountered. Anja tells them that the wise woman is not in the trading post. She says that she left a week ago for the great wood to the north.

“We are the Company of the Black Dragon and we are here to kill the great White Worm.” Lakima announces.

Garth suggests that they should speak with the Guild Master Baldwin. He leaves to get the guild master. Lakima asks Anja about problems in the area and she says she is not aware of any. She has never heard of this White Worm. Baldwin arrives and asks about the group and their mission. He also has never heard of the White Worm. But he suggests it might have something to do with a large White Dragon reputed to roam the Great Wood to the northwest. When Lakima mentions they will fly there to check, Baldwin learns of the skyship and is incredulous. Lakima bets the guild master that it does exist. Lakima suggests a bet of 500 gold but Baldwin counters with a free meal and a round of drinks. The group returns to the skyship with Baldwin and the two guards. Baldwin is amazed by the skyship and asks to buy it. He is disappointed when he is told it is not for sale. But Lakima suggests that he may make more ships in the future and Baldwin asks that the Merchant Adventurers Guild of Edgerton be allowed to corner the market on these wondrous ships.

Lakima tells Baldwin that they are going to head back to Winterhaven. Baldwin insists that they stay so he can honor their bet with a free drink. Lakima declines. The adventurers get back into the skyship and quickly fly back to Winterhaven with the wind at their back. They head immediately to Erwin Truecase’s wobbly shack. The magic user is surprised that the people in Phom Thult have not heard of the White Worm or the threat to the north. He agrees to review the information more.

The adventurers head to the Quiettop Inn and get rooms for the night. Over supper they listen to some conversation from the only other guests, a pair of merchants. The merchants talk about heading north to Phom Thult to investigate why the trading post has not been sending shipments of furs or sending messages. Lakima goes over to introduce himself and tells the merchants that they just came from Phom Thult this very day. The merchants are shocked to learn that they met Baldwin and were told there were no issues. Lakima offers to fly the merchants to Phom Thult the next morning, for an unspecified fee. The merchants learn that the company is the owner of the skyship that the entire town is talking about and they ask a lot of questions.

The next morning the two merchants, Toss Gloam and Hayden Brook arrive at the skyship accompanied by a guard (Tanil). They climb aboard and the ship sets out for Phom Thult. They arrive and settle the ship down in the same spot as before. The group heads directly for the Guild Hall. Alrix turns himself invisible and tells everyone he will follow along unseen. Once inside they meet the guard Anja, Garth, and the paymaster Domhnall. Domhnall is taken aback when he learns that Toss and Hayden represent their bosses back in Edgerton. He tells them that Baldwin is out on a trip to meet with a tribe to trade for furs. Toss questions Domhnall about what has been going on in Phom Thult and the paymaster makes a lot of excuses. Lakima loses patience with him and casts a charm person spell on him. The paymaster then agrees to tell his new friend about the cult of the White Worm which has taken over Phom Thult and will soon take over the north. Anja then stabs Domhnall in the back killing him. Anja and Garth draw swords and move to attack the party. Aldus blocks Anja from getting to Lakima and Eathwund kills Garth. A third guard arrives and moves to attack. Lakima casts charm person on Anja and she stops fighting to call for everyone to stop. This does not stop the guard who is killed by Aldus.

Now that the fighting has stopped, Toss, Hayden, and Tanil come out of hiding. They question Anja and learn about her fervent belief in the power of the White Worm. She tells them that soon all of the north will freeze. She also tells them that the cult in Phom Thult is led by Ale Pukki and offers to take them to see him at the Lost Shepherd Inn. Anja admits that she was told to lie to them about the wise woman. The woman is in Phom Thult but is not a member of the cult.

Most of the company heads out to go to the Inn. Dusig stays behind with the merchants to protect them. At the Inn, they meet the Innkeeper and his wife. Anja cheerfully tells the Innkeeper that her friends want to see Ale Pukki. The Innkeeper is further confused when they openly talk of killing the White Worm. The innkeeper tries to run for the stairs to warn Ale Pukki.

“Fenris, stop him!” Lakima shouts.

Fenris calmly turns and shoots the innkeeper in the back with his crossbow. The man falls unconscious to the floor. The innkeeper’s wife runs to her husband and starts wailing. Another woman comes down the stair and starts screaming. Alrix runs for the stairs (still invisible) and brushes past the woman. The innkeeper’s wife gets up and draws a knife and moves to attack. Fenris moves to draw his sword but Domago and Lakima both shout for him to stop. Joe steps forward and knocks the woman unconscious. He then does the same for the woman on the stairs. Just as it appears that things have settled down, a cook wielding a meat cleaver appears in the doorway to the kitchen and has to be knocked out by Joe.

Meanwhile, upstairs Alrix climbs up a ladder to the attic. Looking about he sees nothing interesting but hears some squeaking mice. He climbs back down just as Lakima, Eathwund and Aldus arrive. Lakima asks Aldus to check the bedrooms. The first bedroom proves to be empty. As Aldus moves to check the second room, two tribal warriors open the door and attack the group in the narrow hallway. There is a quick exchange of slashes and all combatants are cut badly. The door at the end of the hallway opens and a third tribesman emerges and casts a web spell. The web engulfs, Aldus, Eathwund, and Lakima. Alrix manages to remain clear. Aldus defends himself with difficulty while stuck in the webs while Eathwund steps into the ethereal plane and walks through the webs and the barbarians and returns to the material plane behind the combatants. Attacking from behind he kills one of the warriors. Lakima casts feeblemind successfully on the mage. Aldus, Eathwund, and Alrix (using the Dancing sword) gang up on the remaining warrior. He proves to be very tough and it takes several rounds to kill him. Lakima searches the body of the man he assumes must be Ale Pukki. He finds a magic dagger and a Staff of Striking. Joe arrives just as the fight is over. The entire group moves downstairs. They find that Domago has managed to heal and stabilize the innkeeper. All of the inn staff are tied up. The group then returns to the guild hall.

In the guild hall, they decide to seek out the wise woman. Anja (still under a charm) takes them to the wise woman’s home. On the way, they are attacked by more charmed locals. Joe knocks them out with quick attacks. He then tells them to go on while he drags the unconscious men into a building so they do not freeze to death. He pulls the men into a building that turns out to be a dog kennel. Lakima knocks on the door of the wise woman’s home. He sees a young woman peer out a window at them. With some urging, she opens the door. She examines the group on the doorstep and tells them that only Alrix, Lakima, and Eathwund can enter. She leads them into a central room where the wise woman sits on a wooden chair before a large fire. The wise woman turns out to be only in her early thirties. When Lakima asks how she came to the position she tells them that it is tradition to pick an orphan girl to train. The previous wise woman only passed away a few years ago.

She immediately understands why they have come. She has seen the strange things entering the great wood from the lands of ice to the north – yeti, frost giants, and remorhaz. She had a dream about the White Worm and can point them in the right direction. She draws a map on the sand floor. Lakima looks at the puzzling drawing and then pulls out the map of the north they bought in Winterhaven and asks her to mark the location. She tells them to head to the rift in the ice wall.

The wise woman, who tells them her name is Elsi Whitedrift asks if they will stay in Phom Thult long enough to remove the enchantments on the locals. Lakima shakes his head and tells her this will be very difficult. She tells him they can ask the local priest of Law for help. She is sure he is not part of the cult. Elsi leads the group to the local chapel where they find that Torsti, a cleric of Vikil, is not enchanted. But his assistant is and Lakima has to use deep freeze on the acolyte. Torsti is incredulous at first, not believing any cult could exist in the trading post, but eventually agrees to help. He can remove evil enchantments.

The adventurers remove the staff of the inn to the guildhall and take over possession of the Inn. They keep a watch that night but are not disturbed. The next day Lakima, Domago, and Torsti work at removing enchantments from townsfolk who have been charmed. In the guild hall, Lakima also removes the feeblemind spell on Ale Pukki. The man refuses to talk to them. Lakima casts charm person on him. Ale Pukki then tells them the story of how he learned of the legend of the White Worm and went to seek this legend out. He traveled to the frost giant rift and was captured. He managed to convince the giants that he was a true believer in the White Worm and he was taken before the twelve. To his disappointment, only the twelve were allowed to meet with the White Worm. He could feel its presence but could not come before it. The twelve told him that only they were able to behold the magnificent worm without being driven mad.

“Who are the twelve?” Lakima asked.

“The twelve, are the most powerful magic users in the world.”

Ale Pukki also tells them that the glacier rift is home to a small army of frost giants, yeti, and white dragons.

Lakima looks about at his companions with concern.

"Well, this is going to be difficult."