Hello, and welcome to the Kaverns & Kobolds Klub!
In this thread, I, the dungeon master, will be honing my skills in hosting a third edition dungeons and dragons adventure over an online medium, with a team of four promising adventurers who embark on a a treacherous quest. On their adventure, our heroes will encounter magic, monsters, tragedy, treasure, traps, and much much more. Will they survive the ordeals I've prepare for them? The dice shall decide their fates.
Our story takes place around a small mining village known as Duvik's pass:
Duvik’s Pass is a small town nestled within one of the few valleys that cross through the Serpentcoil Mountains. It has long been a waystop for travelers and adventurers seeking to rest aching limbs and drown painful memories within her gates. Moreover, it has also gained attention recently as a potential power in the area’s commerce, due to a discovery of substantial silver deposits buried in the mountains nearby. Over the past three years, the men of Duvik’s Pass have burrowed into the ground seeking the wealth therein. Able-bodied folk from neighboring villages flocked to the town, hoping to lend their strength within the mines and garner some share of the prize. A wide variety of creatures may have had their own reasons to cross these mountains, but it was the smell of silver that drew the nose of a certain merchant-wannabe some time before our story takes place.
Schlomo Goldsteinbergwitz Jr. was a young goblin who travelled across this region some six months ago. The goblinoid came from a rather prestigious family of (((merchant))) Archivists in a far away region, and like all in his family, he had a nose for silver, the silver of Duvik's pass. Schlomo Jr. had only just finished his bar mitzvah and unpacked his presents when he got wind of a the prospects that'd been dug up in the promising town, and so he made off towards those very mountains, taking a dozen of his uncle's irreplacible bank notes with him. Infuriated, his uncle, Harold Goldsteinbergwitz, placed a heavy bounty on the theif's nose, prosising a reward of 4,000 gold pieces to whoever could bring back the young prospector, alive.
It's for this reason that our heroes, to be described, have gathered in Duvik's pass. Each of these young lads happened to pick up wind of the bounty as they were crossing the mountains. They've traveled far for the chance at fortune, perhaps even bumping into eachother once or twice along the way. The four cloaked figures enter the town at different entry points, stopping and asking less-than-friendly commoners for directions that may lead them to their fortune. To call the townsfolk unfriendly would be an understatement, as each of our four cloaked heroes would find brutally clear as they make frustrated ill attempts to communicate with the locals. The entire town seems to be on-edge, paranoid, and almost hollow in some ways. Our four unnamed heroes would find that the promising village of Duvik's Pass isn't all it was cracked up to be, at least not since a grim misfortune that had befouled the town long before their arrival.
Hope and industry of Duvik's Pass turned to despair and potential ruin with the advent of the Burning Plague four months ago. It began quietly enough, with the miners returning home from their work at nightfall complaining of blistering sores and an unbearable thirst. Shortly thereafter, the town’s livestock was decimated by an unknown illness and her crops began to wither. The elders of Duvik’s Pass declared that the well water had been soured by an unknown disease, but by then the Burning Plague had already begun claiming the young and the sickly. To make matters worse, the last few men still strong enough to plumb the wealth of the mine have yet to return from their last endeavor. The townsfolk know not what happened to their loved ones; they continue to await the return of their missing sons and husbands, while praying for an end to the sickness that continues to spread within their home.
Needless to say, few of the despairing commoners have anything nice to say to the cloaked strangers traveling about the town looking for clues to the whereabouts of the goblin merchant; some turn away in disgust, others point in various directions, some even throw rocks, but most of them just shrug in ignorance. Frustrated and annoyed, the four cloaked figures eventually find themselves marching across the town in the same general direction; they shuffle awkwardly alongside one another, trying and failing to avoid eye contact, perhaps vaguely aware of their common prospects. Together, willingly or not, the haphazard squad make their way to the town's largest pub and community center: The Old Plot Hole Inn. One by one, they squeeze past each-other through the doors of the tavern.
1307 replies and 73 files omitted.
Fucking discord.
What i meant to post in the #graveyard is that y'all still haven't properly looted the orc.
>>121415Scruching her face in disgust, she takes a step back.
"Crawl to the lake, would you? Yer makin' me uncomfortable."
The goblin crawls into the lake to wash himself.
(LMAO)
>>121415Living up to the character, I see. Nice work.
>>121419Am I playing him well? Lol.
>>121418With a shiver of second-hand embarrasment, she looks at him go before turning to the zombies.
>>121418The gobbo crawls to the edge of the lake and defiles the Pool Of Sacred Tears.
>>121420Very goblin-like.
>>121418>>121420He can hear a faint buzzing sound, as he sticks his face in the water.
>>121423He pulls himself out of the water after wiping away the snot on his face.
This is the part where you introduce yourselves.
Lucy's player has been prevented from doing so because reasons, so pretend she's in the conversation. Her player is still lurking.
>>121426I got the message.Isla, seeing the zomboes aren't reacting much, turns to walk back to the lake area, glancing at the goblin creature.
>>121427You can roll a sense motive check, if you want.
You'd need a high DC though, since they're mindless creatures.
>>121428I'll give it a shot
[1d20+7 = 23]<Sense Motive roll
The zombies are well aware of her presence, swiveling their heads towards her with sickening [cracks], but do not make motions to attack.
The gruesome automatons fixate their heads towards the previous tunnel once more, ready to attack anything that enters the cavern.
Lucy can infer that the mindless zombies, capable of processing only the most basic commands, were programmed to attack whatever entered the cavern, but perhaps not what was leaving it...
*Isla can infer
Or Lucy, this is her area of expertise
With a curious rise of one of her eyebrows, Isla pokes one of the zombies.
>>121432Yeah, that's a step to far.
The zombie, one of the miners, lacking sophisticated object permanence, mistakes her for an intruder and swings at her with its pickaxe.
...And misses.
Then Lucy steps into the room and rebukes them all for as long as it takes for the plot to advance, while Yeeck gathers the rest of the shaman's loot in his bag for the party to kill each-other over later.
>>121433Isla jumps back, looking at Lucy with a sheepish smile.
"Sorry, lass."
>>121434Lucy looks like she about to respond before a cave frog hops into her mouth, distracting her.
>>121435Straining to hold a giggle, she walks back to the lake, beckoning Lucy to follow.
She looks at the goblin thing, wondering what sort of being is he.
The goblin seems to have calmed down a bit. He's still hyperventilating, but has composed himself more. "Wh-who are y-you?" He asks to the party.
>>121437"Name's Isla, lad," she responds. "Feelin' better now?"
If y'all don't mind, I'm going to advance things a little bit with some meta knowledge. There's nothing else in this room of interest except for whatever was making that buzzing sound earlier, so if you'd like to leave and introduce yourselves later, you're free to go.
>>121436Lucy runs around randomly trying to dislodge the frog from her tongue, managing to stumble in the general direction Isla was pointing her too.
Local knowledge is a class skill for you, so i'm going to let you roll it untrained to identify this humanoid.
>>121437The Witch is distracted by a frog in her throat. Ask again some other time.
>>121438"Y-yes. My n-name's Chef-f. I c-came here to find b-bank notes."
>>121440"You too?" Isla asks. "I haven't seen a sliver of it either, but there were sum fancy rocks."
>>121441"I d-d-didn't find a-anything." The goblin says.
>>121443Roll bluff with a -2 Penalty
[1d20+2 = 5]
Rolling bluff
Isla, your opposed check, just for courtesy.
>>121447The little shit is lying. He's a lying liar lying out of his lying hole.
He totally found something.
>>121448>>121445"Ya mind bein' honest with me, lad?" Isla responds. "I'd rather you'd be honest."
[1d20+2 = 12]>>121449I m-may have found some st-stuff. A-all I have is this half-eaten cheesewheel." He says while producing a half-eaten cheesewheel from his backpack.
Rolling bluff.
>>121450Opposed
[1d20+7 = 17]<Sense Motive
>>121451>>121450He found something alright. Something worth hiding.
>>121450>>121452"Cut the lying, ye moneygobbler!" Isla shouts. "Tell the truth!"
[1d20+2 = 18]>>121453The goblin cowers while showing her what's in his bag.
>>121454I could have sworn he had a few etra weapons.
The dead kobold had a crossbow and a shortspear, btw.
>>121455>>121454With a sigh, she looks at the goblin.
"Good. That is all I needed to see. Thank you."
She pauses.
"Who are you?"
[1d20+2 = 7]>>121456"Ch-chef."
>>121456Do you take his stuff?
>>121457>>121458Good alignment forbids me of that.With a nod, she holds out a hand to shake.
"Isla."
>>121454Oi, you forgot the golden brooch with the jade inlay, and the 3 pieces of moss agate.
>>121459I wouldn't have said so, but if you insist..
>>121460Don't leave those behind. They're worth taking.
Do y'all want to leave, or do you want to look at whatever's buzzing in the pond? I want this adventure to be over.
[1d20+2 = 18]>>121464I wanna leave the dungeon.
>>121459"Ch-chef."
>>121465Good. There's no treasure left in this mine.
>>121464I vote leave as well.
Alright. The party leaves. Lucy rebukes the zombies at bay for Yeeck to smash and/or push past.
The only unexplored area s the kobold camp, which Isla, upon climping there out of curiosity, find a trap door leading to a room filled with absolutely nothing, since the kobolds ransacked the place on their way out.
Nothing kills them as they make their way out of the mines, and they're free to go home down the mountain. They should be in town before sunset.
Whoever's leading, roll survival
[1d20+1 = 11]
Rolling survival to try to be helpful.
>>121470rolls diceChef is attacked by a fucking eagle, bigger than he is.
Roll an opposed grapple check.
"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!" cries the raptor
Also, everyone roll initiative, since this thing actually has a chance to carry him off.
[1d20-4 = -9]
Rolling to not die from a frickin bird. Lol.
>>121472>>121473>>121471I leave for dinner for 10 minutes.[1d20+5 = 7]<Initiative
>>121475Fail, the eagle manages to lift his fat ass off the ground and begins to carry him off, at reduced speed albeit.
It lifts him about ~30 feet in the air, carrying him away from the trail, towards the cliff.
"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!" Another eagle responds, swooping in
>>121476Tat's alright. We can get back to this later. Take your time to eat.
[1d20-4 = -1]>>121477Chef attempts to hold onto the bird for dear life while screaming and pissing his pants.
Rolling grapple.
>>121478Roll initiative.
Also fail.
He takes 2 nonlethal damage.
[1d20+3 = 18]
Rolling initiative
>>121480Alright, but he just made his check trying to escape the grapple.
The other eagle just circles overhead, cawing to its mate.
Lucy's turn.
[1d20+3 = 12]>>121481Can I attempt to punch it in tue balls/vagina, or poke out it's eyes?
>>121482He has to win a grapple for that
Which he fails, lol
Okay, Lucy's player is still feeling intimidated, so I'm going to have her load her sling.
Yeeck tries to shoot it.
And fails, because he doesn't have precise shot..
Isla's turn.
>>121484Isla fires at the eagle flying away with the fat goblin with her newly acquired crossbow.
[1d20+4 = 15]<Ranged Attack Throw
>>121485Due to the fact that she's shooting into the melee, that fails to hit.
The eagle struggles to carry Chef's fat ass further away from the trail.
He can roll an opposed grapple. to slow it down.
[1d20-4 = -16]>>121486Rolling grapple. Chef is having a panic attack.
[1d20-4 = -11]>>121487NATTY 20, BAAAYBEEEEE
Chef knocks the eagle unconscious with a lucky punch.
>>121487Chef manages to escape the raptors grasp before its able to carry him to the cliff.
Now roll tumble, to see how hard he falls.
>>121488Nope. He fell out of its grasp and is now falling from a considerable height.
Roll tumble
[1d20+3 = 15]>>121489>>12149 →Rolling tumblre
>>121491I'm going to treat this as a deliberate jump
He takes 5 nonlethal damage, and 4 lethal damage from the fall. He is now staggered.
He is at 1 HP.
The other eagle swoops at him, but seems to be unwilling to take on the group.
The two eagles fly off, in search of some less heavy prey.
[1d20+3 = 10]>>1214921 HP, with 7 non-lethal. He's KO'd.
The PCs managed to make it halfway down the mountain before the bird attack.
I'm going to be nice and not make them roll again to survive the rest of the trip.
>>121493He's just staggered. He'll survive, so long as he doesn't malign any cats that might scratch him.
I'm gonna give Chef 75 XP for the escape.
The PCs make it to the town.
What's the first thing they do?
>>121496Isla decides to ask the locals about the plague, particularly who were the first ones that got infected.
[1d20+3 = 8]>>121496Chef wants to buy a prostitute.
>>121497Well, if you want to look for information, the best place to go would be the Plot Hole Inn.
*Enter party, arriving through the gates*
The one-eyed bartender looks up.
"Oi, would'ya lookit dat. The rascals made it down from the mines." he says, putting down the dirty glass he was polishing
Then his expression turns morbid.
"So.. what became o' our boys?" The old man says
>>121498I'm assuming that was a diplomacy roll?
>>121498I accidentally left the dice on. It's cool if you just do fade-to-black with the hooker.
>>121499It wasn't, but I am assuming you would have me make a bluff check to get the likely human hookers to fuck him.
>>121500A peasant barmaid slaps him, knocking him out nonlethally.. (sorry, it was a crit before i even read that message)
>>121499"Dead," Isla utters. "There was some strange stuff happening in there, with little dragons and a big, blue muscular thing."
She turns around to see Chef, pointing at him.
"Like that, but double my size."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IUew6G9bg0This is Chef getting yeeted by the barmaid. I'll just wait for him to wake up from the KO lol.
>>121503The old man looks deeply sad, but the way he shakes his head makes it obvious that he expected so much.
".. damn savages..!" He growls
".. Anyway, 'tanks fer givin' it a look.. I woulda' been up there meself, if it weren't for these old knees of mine.." The
Orcs don't actually look like Goblins.
And Jakk was white, not blue.
>>121504lmao
Yeeck walks in behind Isla, with his bag full of junk.
As he moves forward, something seems to catch the old man's eye.
"No.. It can't be..!" he gasps, reaching a shaky arm out across the table pointing straight at Yeeck's bag.
"I'd know dat pike anywhere. That'd be da rod of the Tornclaw!"
The other peasants loitering in the inn seem to be perturbed by the old man's outcry, giving him confused looks.
The bartender turns to Isla.
"Say, young lassie, what in blue blazes did you see up there?"
>>121506"There was a big statue of... sumthing," Isla mutters. "I think it was tae same thing that attacked us, tae white orc. It chanted pretty dicey stuff."
>>121507The old man seems shocked, then confused, then exasperated. Isla doesn't need a check to sense a flurry of emotions washing across the old man's face: Disbelief, horror, anger, guilt, fear, confusion.. it's all there.
He lifts a shaky finger
"Ten years ago.. That very spear took my eye.." he mutters
"I never would'a thought the last of 'em would'a still been crawling around these mountains after all these years." He says, lowering his head
>>121509"Who?" Isla ignorantly asks, cocking her head.
I'm going to take this chance to point out that the spear that nobody bothered to loot is very ornate, with a silver haft and ivory carvings, and is definitely worth keeping.
>>121510The old man seems visbly uncomfortable, glancing at the spear every now and then, as if he can't really believe it's there.
"The orcs.. The Tornclaw. Dey were once the top dogs in this region, before the Zarians decided to push 'em out. Long family of mages; dey were the baddest brutes in the mountains.
"Ten years ago, was the end to a long war my brothers and I fought under the flag of Zaria against the orcs un dese mountains.. They were tough, savage, and strong, but not too many of 'em. There were hardly any left by the time we'd won. Just a few running off into the mountains, and one more who fought till he was near dead before escaping; he took my eye with him.."
>>121511lolIsla nods in interest.
"I see."
A pause
"Did they use some sort of dark magic stuff, maybe? Something related to zombies?"
>>121512"Am not so sure. Am no expert on dat orc juju. Dey sure as heck had some powerful hexers among 'em though. Der even had a pair o' dragons on their side. The Zarians won in the end, but they took out more than half of militia army. My comrades.. we're told to take out da shaman first.. it was easier said than done, cuzip those juggernauts could take a dozen bolts to the chest and still keep going. I thought we'd had em by the time it was over. The blasted savage was already being eaten by rats by the time I turned around, but then the bastard sprang at me and jabbed mr eye out, muttering his dark mumbo jumbo before skatin for the hills with a whole sled's worth of treasure on his back.. and none of us ever heard from him again...
.... until today..."
Seeing as how Lucy's player isn't feeling well, and I still haven't had the chance to reintroduce Rhyd, I think we outtalked cut it for the night.
I did a random ecounter, but i'll probably do them on discord from this point on. I just wanted to get the party back together before the adventure ended. There isn't much left here.
Goodnight.
Since it looks like some of the players would not like to play on the board for the remainder of this adventure, I thik I'll just cu the dialogue and narrate the closing of te story as follows:
The commners are at first skeptical of Lucy's "quick rundown", but are hushed by forceful words of the one-eyed elder. Word travels quickly of the supposed curse that the curse that ravaged the land had supposedly been lifted.
Defeating Jakk had an almost immediate visible effect upon the waters of the wellspring, which began to clear themselves of the muck of the Plague shortly after his death. The mine itself remains in need of purification and most of the contagious elements therein will have to be burned before it is safe to wander through the mountain’s interior once more. Even so, most of the able bodied young men left in Duvik's pass died at the hands of M'dok's Warband, and it could be quite sometime until the mines of Duvik are productive once more.
The Plague symptoms affecting the town of Duvik’s Pass begin to subside with the cleansing of its water supply. The townsfolk are most greatful, and are told that whenever they come back to Duvik, they will never need to pay for lodging or any supplies within reason during their returns to that place. The party find themselves cashing in immediatey though, for not a day after their descent frm the mountain, they all find that the themselves have all contrated a particularly horrid case of the burning plague, in addition to the filth fever that had been spread to them by the rats. They find themselves bedridden by ability damage, gracious for the free hospitality of of he Plot Hole Inn. The effects of direct exposure are so severe that they spend weeks tossing and turning in their beds in hot spread tormented by mad fits and nightmares, just barely managing to avoid permanent ability drain (Isla came pretty close though). Upon the fifteenth day, they find that they've all recovered, having been treated by Sister Morgan, the town's only Adept, finally free from her room in the Mayor's palace.
The next day, the party are all given the chance to meet the Mayor, a silver-haired human aristocrat named Cristofar Sendars, who is eventually convinced to leave the safety of his mansion after a heated dispute with and some name-calling from Scout Tungstan, the old barkeeper himself, who threatened to break down the door with his pickaxe if he didn't "get his sorry ass out of there". The Mayor obliges, but never takes off his plague mask for the duration of the meeting.
Mayor Sendars offers a reward of 100 gp taken from the mine’s anticipated profits to each adventurer who helped reclaim the mines (including the freaking goblin who didn't do anything but help himself to th last of the treasure). He also treats them and the town to a feast meal (cooked from the stocks he'd hoarded in preparation to wait out the plague).
Yeeck is given a free pony, and rides off ito the sunset, to never to return until or unless his player is able to play once more in future games.
Kiara, who tragically took her own life in despair of being tortured by the kobolds, is dragged out of the mine and buried to avoid her turning into one of a list of a hundred different kinds of undead monsters that make up this word's insane foodchain.
The fate of Rhyd remains unknown, but nobody seems vey optimistic given how he was abruptly taken by that giant spider..
The Banknotes of the Goldstienbergwitz Clan are nowhere to be seen, perhaps traded of to the Hobgoblin parade that visited the town three months prior. Mayor Sendars seems unwilling to speak of his dealings with the infamous goblinoid, but makes a remark that "That thieving bastard nearly ruined this town with his worthless paper mony!". The ivory stamp in Chef's possession, however, is proof that the notes were there, although it's uestionable if it would really be worth the effort to travel to the clan's homeland with neither the notes nor the living goblin in hope to extract a reward from the infamous (((bankers)))...
It's unclear what the future will brng for ou little band of murder hobos.
As for further adventures, rumor has it that word has spread among neighboring orc clans that the PCs slew the last son of the Tornclaw Clan. The wrath Gruumsh One-Eye, The God Of Vengence, is an ever present omen in the background, as the fearsome lord whispers to his shamen sends word to his followers that warriors who bring him the heads of the meddlers who thwarted his Burning Plague will gain his favor.
M’dok remains alive, trekking back to his clan with his wounded warband. Perhaps the little red Sorcerer may return in the future as well, leading another army to reclaim the mine he still considers his, for his people believe here is no obstacle in the multiverse that cannot be overcome with sheer numbers.
For now, however, the day has been won and the dangers of the Plague averted. The PCs (and their players) should take some time to enjoy the satisfaction of a quest completed. Perhaps one day they'll seek to investigate who Schlomo was trading with months prior, or maybe they'll search the mountains in hopes to find where Jakk stashed away the last of his people's treasures, but for now, they rest. The PCs who finished the adventure taking all the time they need to level up.
The KKK is dismissed for now, or at least won't return to the board for more than a week or three.
Thank you all for playing; it was a lot of fun! :D
I'll see you all on discord, so you can make any retroactive changes to your characters, and maybe try some encounters of mine if you're interested.
I'll narrate whatever happened to Rhyd (spoiler alert: he hasn't been eaten by spiders yet) whenever his player has the time. Last thing his player knew, he was cocooned in the ethereal plane, praying for salvation from the 8-legged menace.
The KKK will probably not formally meet again for a couple weeks, maybe even a month, since it looks like some of our players need some time to sort out their schedules.
In the meantime, I'll be reading up on some better and more original Content than The Burning Plague, and maybe trying out some crash course encounters while I contemplate mediums. I'm not entirely satisfied with how that adventure went (particularly how it lasted a month instead of just one day), so I'd prefer to be a bit more prepared if any future plot-based adventures are to occur.