Episode 5 - This is the (undead) apocalypse.

(In which our self serving murderhobos save the entire town)

Looking down from the water tower the band surveyed Deva. It was mostly deserted with small bands of shuffling shambling figures here and there. The quiet was punctuated by the occasional scream as the ghouls found a survivor and relieved them of that status. They noticed that most activity centered around the arena and main temple of Abbathor which still had it's main doors open. Scawl reminded them that their main priority was to recover Sala the alchemist and set off to reconnoiter her dwelling.

Inside the alchemist's house and store he found the place had been cleared and the occupant departed. It was clear she had not been forcibly dragged off like so many of the other citizens. As he was sneaking back the rest of the band saw four ghouls carrying off three paralysed dwarves to an uncertain fate. Heskin and Cheet promptly descended and charged while Senden and Perren provided covering fire.

There was a brief moment of total confusion as Cheet turned into a large tentacled horror. While ungainly it was fearsome as it quickly wrestled two of the ghouls into submission and then ate the head of one. Heskin dispatched the other two with help from the others. Senden wisely masked the sounds with his magic. While it kept other ghouls from hearing it made the battle just that more surreal. Scawl returned near the end but put the entire sight down to accidentally inhaling something at the alchemist's.

The band rescued the victims and another holdout in a nearby house and wondered what to do. They decided to check out the temple. The victims mentioned they had seen some strangers in black robes come for Sala and take her and her alchemical apparatus away. They identified them as followers of Myrkul, god of death and the undead. They had hid when they had come because  the cultists of the death god are not to be trifled with unless you have an army (or two).

The band crept along the wall to where they could look into the temple. Inside they could see a large pile of bodies. Senden saw one of the bodies twitch and realised the victims were alive and paralysed by the fearsome touch of the ghouls. They saw several ghouls and black robed figures moving within. While deciding on a course of action two of the cultists left and started for the arena across town. Seeing their chance the band followed and waylaid them, killing one and taking the other prisoner.

Senden used his magics to charm their captive, Caleyn. The magic made him very cooperative and he saw the band as potential recruits to the cult of Myrkul and his person plan to kill Vargas, the leader of the cult and to then take his place. They learned that Vargas was planning a mass sacrifice in three nights time and that the cultists of Ilmater would be crown piece of the pyramid of bodies. Caleyn and the other cultist had been sent to gather the cultists from their holding cells in the arena. While the Cult of Myrkul had not been responsible for the unleashing of the ghouls they had taken it as an unholy sign and were taking full advantage of the death and misery about them.

The band then hatched a cunning plan. They would disguise Scawl as a follower of Myrkul, retrieve the cultists of Ilmater and disguise the rest of themselves as them. They would then walk into the temple and ambush Vargas and his minions. It was a sound plan compounded only by the fact that no-one really knew anything about Ilmater and his followers. Would they be cooperative?

It turned out that the cultists followed a goodly deity of endurance and healing. The band absorbed this oddity with aplomb and asked if they could help. Their leader, a halfling named Korras said he could bring great pain upon those who had caused it. The band thought this a useful ability. They then enacted their plan and ambushed and slew the followers of Myrkul and released Sala and the other captives. They also looted the temple, tricked the still charmed Cleyn into gathering the ghouls into a large building and burning them all, and organised a reward from the governor.

During all this the band had spied a large dust cloud in the west. Sala prepared a potion that allowed one's spirit to venture forth from your body for a time and Senden drank it and went to investigate. The cloud was caused by a warband of about three centuries of warriors marching on the town. Investigating the leader proudly wore the same symbol as Heskin, that of Torm, the god of truth, justice and idiots. The warriors were planning a raid on Deva but since the spirit could only see, not hear Senden could not discern their purpose beyond a forcible withdrawal fro the temple of Abbathor.

Heading back he also investigated beneath the arena and discovered an underground complex and colony of ghouls, complete with chief and mistresses. A little wierded out, he returned and informed his comrades.

Episode 4 - Tomb Raider redux

(In which our heroes engage in a little tomb robbing.)

The band continued towards Deva. The next day saw a massive pall of smoke over the city. It seemed a large section was on fire. They therefore decided to skirt the city and proceed directly to the location of the barrow. Another day's trek up the peninsula saw them to their destination. The barrow was a large artificial hill overlooking the Hibernian sea. It was quite a pleasant, if chilly place so long as you ignored the propect of undead terrors within. The band camped for the night and tried to recall any details about wights besides 'undead' and 'nasty'.

Opening the tomb door revealed a steeply descending dressed stone tunnel. Upon the walls was a bas relief of the exploits of three heroic warriors and their less heroic minions battling be-tentacled horrors that were shown emerging from the earth. The warriors fought with sword and axe and spear, the spear wielder being the most heroic. The band recognised some of the horrors depicted having seen them at the village that was abducted.

A short way in there was a small antechamber to one side with six skeletons in patchwork armour and ancient weapons standing within small alcoves in a macabre parody of a parade rest. Examination revealed them to be simply dead and no danger. They proceeded down carefully to the first burial chamber.

The chamber was a largish opening with 12 simple graves. More disturbing were the four bodies of the squamous humanoids known to be followers of the Watchers. They appeared totally grey, as if the colour had been entirely leached from them. Heskin cut off their heads 'just in case' which released the contents, maggots and rotting stench within. The creatures had been armed with clubs and had also brought shovels and other digging tools. They had been in the process of digging up one of the graves when they had been attacked. After the rest of the band complained about the smell Heskin dragged the creatures bodies into the dug up grave.

That disturbed something. The temperature abruptly dropped and a blue glow could be seen down the tunnel leading further into the barrow. Soon they could hear a shuffling and a clink of armour. The sound briefly stopped then restarted and the band was confronted by a skeletal warrior. It still wore an ancient but intact suit of mail and carried a equally well maintained blade. It's eyes were the source of the light.

Heskin presented the holy symbol of Torm and drove the thing back. They briefly chased it but were checked by a large hole almost twenty feet across going a very long way down. It seemed that they were not the only tomb robbers. The undead was not stopped by the pit and they could hear sounds of movement of something climbing up. Scawl dropped a flaming torch down the pit. Soon all that could be seen was the torches glow. But they were rewarded by a yelp of surprise, a scream and a splat.

Heskin advised they should hurry as the monster would soon return. Seeing no safe way over they made for the exit. However it was blocked. Something had animated the skeletal guards and they advanced on the band with a thicket of spears. Trapped between the undead monster and it's minions they charged. Much fighting ensued. Heskin was felled by the creatures icy blade at which point Cheet transformed into a large bear. While it is probably best not to speak of his fighting skills as a humanoid his prowess as an animal was unmatched. With Scawl's help the undead monsters were soon piles of bones.

The band decided to wisely retreat after reviving Heskin. Outside they considered their options. They hit upon cutting down a large tall tree to bridge the gap. Thus prepared they ventured back into the tomb. Crossed the gap and made their way to the next burial chamber.

This chamber housed two sarcophagi with representations of those who were within. One was open while the other remained closed. Gathering some courage they pulled at the lid ready for an attack but nothing came of it. Either the magic had faded or the corpse's spirit had better things to do than to guard it's remains. There was some relieved looting and they would of left had Cheet not pointed out that the murals depicted three warriors, not two. They searched and found access to the final chamber. Inside were the treasures of these pre dwarven lords and the tomb's guardian. It assailed them with horrific creams and it's spear but the band quickly prevailed. They then set about looting the treasures within.

That night as they camped the band noticed a large bonfire outside Deva. In the morning it was revealed to be a ramshackle camp made by survivors of an outbreak of ghouls. The Arena of Deva had an attraction of two insect monsters set to devour some Ilmater cultists. The insects instead burrowed into the arenas floor and escaped. Beneath the arena was a nest of ghouls which the monster's burrows gave access to the surface. Seven days later the city was overrun by undead.

The band inquired at the still secure port of the fates of Syriax and Sala. Syriax had made it to the port with the use of the weapons he had crafted and was understandably reluctant to part with them. No one knew of what had happened to Sala the alchemist. The band also learned that the Governor's palace still held and by offering to rescue those within gained  their new weapons and the cooperation of the port. With some help they infiltrated Deva's water tower by way of the aqueduct and surveyed the desolation within...

Interlude 1

(In which the GM reflects on the game so far since he's on holiday.)

So far so good. Five is an an easy system. Well, it's easy compared to SPI's Dragonquest which is what we lunatics have played for the last few decades. For those unfamiliar with it, Dragonquest is Runequest's crazier, LOTR obsessed cousin. It's an old school charts and tables, resource management game with a definite Tolkien vibe but not the rights which went to Iron Crown Enterprises. So maybe Dragonquest is Rolemaster's slightly saner cousin who only read LOTR but not the Silmarillion. In any event, D&D 5 is a much simpler game by comparison.

The players dove into the character generation and unanimously chose 'let's roll dice', Stats were quickly assigned and juggled a bit as classes / races were chosen. Backgrounds caused some confusion coming after classes. Perhaps it should run stats, race, background, class. Bonds. ideals and flaws were for the most part rolled. Old school gamers have few problems with shaking the box and playing with whatever gets taken out.

Character generation from start to finish took one hour. Three of those players were completely new to Five. New game, new character sheet and ten minutes to find enough d6s for everyone. That's fast.
D&D was faster. As was Paranoia. 'Here are your character sheets', 'Hey, why are all our names Hydrodynamic Processor Part B?', 'Hmm, questioning the system, put a '2' at the end of your character's name'. But most games take longer, typically an entire session. The band got on with encountering a zombie, a lich, several lizardmen and then several more.

That's not a typo. First level characters met Ashrak the lich. An 18-20 level wizard specialising in necromancy. He's far to busy in his research to be bothered doing, well anything and if the band could see their way to recovering bits of lore he wants to examine he'll reward them. A lich is an excellent patron, they're totally amoral and if they're left alone with their books and tomes they make fairly good neighbours. Ashrak is going to be asking for all sorts of crazy things until he crosses some imagined line and then it will be on. But for the moment he's too much a massive source of lore, exposition and rewards for the band to even think of attacking.

Session one saw the first planned encounter, 'bandits'. Well actually they met the bandits in the first session as a source of potential employment but were far more intrigued by the necromancer. They also encountered some devotees of Bethshaba and yes, I'm probably spelling that different each time. Well they hid from them, but that's an encounter all the same. But the weekly theme was bandits.

It's also very easy to set up an encounter. I've seen a few criticisms of Five that monsters are mostly just bags of hp and damage. I see that as a good thing. People talk of 'stat blocks' but all you need for Five is the 'stat line'. Name, AC, to hit, damage dice and the rest of the line is for hp. All the other blather is in the Monster Manual. I'm loving that aspect. The players also enjoy it. Armour values and damage mitigation may be 'more realistic' or 'gritty' but the hit point system has a simple brutality all of it's own. Especially when HP in Five are equivalent to half that number in AD&D. The players enjoyed the brutal battle and it's even more brutal aftermath. Then they went back to their home town to meet the local warlord and his Darth Vader expy sidekick. Galbatorix is all about safeguarding civilisation, even if it is with an iron fist.

And it's gone on in that vein. The band meets hideous monsters and often tries talking since combat is so brutal. They've learned that monsters will connect easily and hit hard. But so can they. They've learned of the underlying cosmic crisis and some steps they can take to remedy that. They've met some interesting and colourful NPCs and time will tell if they ever fight either Ashrak, Caius or Galbatorix. Those immortal watchers sound nasty. Mabye they'll need these lesser evils...

Episode 3  Building better communities through bloodshed.

The band took their cart south to the port city of Deva Victrix. Crossing the Mersum they spied two low elves taking shelter beneath the bridge. Heskin spoke with them and learned they were deserters since they believed the city would fall to the western tribes. Heskin bade them to stay and that they may have work for them on the way back.

The next day they spotted a ruined cart with some dead dwarves and a mauled horse. Cheet transformed into a giant wolf. In that form he could smell goblin, a smaller and more foolish race similar to hobgoblins. He also smelled another beast, some ravening beast that had foot long quills as weapons.

The band tracked the creatures to a nearby cave. Outside they ambushed a goblin relieving itself and then proceeded in. They met the goblins coming out and attacked. Their onslaught left only two survivors who roused Dhent, a massive giant. The band continued the assault and drove the giant into the main chamber. Waiting within was a terrible manticore. Negotiations quickly broke down and battle was joined. Eventually the band emerged beaten and bloody, yet triumphant. They took the head and bones of the giant and body of the manticore as well as an oddly preserved knife the giant had. Everything was loaded into the cart and they continued towards the city.

They were well received at Deva Victrix. Carrying in a dead monster attracts a lot of attention. They spent the next two days visiting various people in the city trading in the manticore parts, finding someone to shape weapons out of the giant bones and changing their loot into more usable coin. The governor asked them to deal with a renegade soldier named Caius who was raising up the western tribes and threatening the city. The arena master gave them a list of bounties for any monsters they could bring in alive. Sala, the alchemist told them of a barrow containing undead, the bones of which could be ground down for a potion that would protect them against death magic. Syriax, a crafter of bone weapons advised them that blood of a priest of Abbathor could be used to place runes on weapons to make them deadly to the Watchers and their minions. For some odd reason the local priest did not want to give his blood to some wild eyed lunatics though. They lastly bought a wagon and many barrels of wine. Loaded up they headed back to Mammucium.

Three days later they reached the town and unloaded the wine. Galbatorix had returned from his expedition down the hole. He had a tale of hideous creatures which they barely defeated. Antonius had announced that cleaving to Bane and following his ways would keep the Watchers at bay and had started construction of a new temple to the Lord of All. Galbatorix also asked that Heskin help capture Navio to the south-east and more importantly the nearby silver mines. The others asked Heskin why they were apparently helping the warlord.

The band then headed to the 'dwarven infestation on the northern side of the lizardfolk's swamp. The hill forty was ruined and deserted so they planted the staff and ran for it as the ground rapidly turned to bog and marsh. On the way back they investigated a new structure in the swamp. It was a structure of gleaming bone. Within they found Ashrak constructing it with his necromantic powers. He happily informed the band of his plans to staff it with unquiet spirits to teach the lizardmen and how it would be so much easier if they cast off the shackles of life. The band decided to direct Ashrak to other avenues of thought lest he decide to gift them with unlife. Ashrak was quite knowledgeable about the Watchers and their squamous, betentecled servants. His interest seemed to derive from the immortality of the Watchers. Slay the body of a Watcher and it would reform several days later. He suggested they travel back to his tower and he might be able to find a reference to a means to defeat them.

A chilly night spent by the tower waiting for Ashrak to check his books bore fruit. He had found references to the Watchers being driven off by books of laws and ordinaces and opined that the original manuscript of one of the great sets of laws may render the creature unable to reform. He also mentioned the Axe of Torm may be of use. Alas, According to the Lays of Sune, the goddess had tricked Torm out of his weapon and lent it to Tempus. Tempus had subsequently lost the axe fighting Gruumsh in his lands to the north. After wondering why his god was such an idiot Heskin thanked Ashrak for the information.

The band then returned to Deva Victrix, intent on visiting the nearby barrow mounds in search of undead bones and any other cool stuff they might have. On the way back to the city they came across a score of dwarves shambling their way north. They decided to hide, thinking they may be undead, which they were. While they were well hidden from prying eyes they had not counted on the undead's unnatural ability to seek out the living. Five dwarves caught their scent and split off to eat the band. A brief pursuit and nearly fatal fight later the band staggered back onto the road. The rest of the undead had continued north.