Tuesday, August 20, 2024

Nightwick Abbey - Session 97 - Not at Home

Previously, in Nightwick Abbey...

Want to learn more about the world of Nightwick from Miranda? You can follow her blog here and the ongoing development of Nightwick Abbey at her Patreon here.

Session 97 - 2nd of Sextember, 1398

This week's adventurers:

Blossom (Rogue 6)

Mayfly (Magician 5)

Cherwe (Cleric 5)

Ulf (Magician 4)

Liminal Space (Changeling 4)

Poppy (Fighter 4)

Thekla (Magician 3)

Krupe (Cleric 2)

Hexcrawling in the Dark Country

We start today in a ruined manor in the Dark Country, the next day after our previous session. Ulf has somehow caught up to the rest of the party as they get ready to head out.

Yesterday, Thekla used a potion of Control Dragons to send a green dragon to attack the Corbies' nearby castle - we're not particularly fond of the group and they're know to have some magic items we're interested in.

We depart towards the castle in the morning, but as we draw near, a group of armored knights ride out to meet us.

"Oi! Fuck off!" they yell to us.

We see a great black shape laying near the castle - they had apparently downed the dragon without too much difficulty.

Turns out even a dragon can't take on 70+ guys with crossbows. We'll have to do better next time.

Treasure for the Taking

We decide instead to go off in search of the dragon's lair; Thekla managed to get that information from the dragon. We know it's out in the wilderness by the shrine of St. Richard the Prior, which we've been to previously.

Tuesday, June 11, 2024

Nightwick Abbey - Session 95 - How Many Magicians Does It Take To Kill The Undead?

Previously, in Nightwick Abbey...

Want to learn more about the world of Nightwick from Miranda Elkins? You can follow her blog here and the ongoing development of Nightwick Abbey at her Patreon here.

Session 95 - 6th of Leftember, 1398

This week's adventurers:

Blossom (Rogue 6)

Mayfly (Magician 5)

Ulf (Magician 4)

Liminal Space (Changeling 4)

Gerung "Floating Disc" (Magician 3)

Poppy (Fighter 4) 

Thekla (Magician 3) 

Lump (Frogling 2)

Hirelings: Niklaus (Fighter 2), Helusch (Magician 1), Spruce

Downtime in the Village

Ulf spends the week researching. He spends 100sp to gain 100xp and hears of rumors that a portal to the very shores of ruined Acheron lies somewhere on level 5. Acheron was an ancient land that summoned and bound devils to their whim.

Liminal Space instead spent the week gormandizing, and was stricken with illness! He is bedridden for a week and permanently loses 1 strength and constitution! 

His former hireling turned adventurer, Gerung the Magician, takes his place in our party roster while Liminal recovers.

Thekla starts learning the spell Web from one of the party's spellbooks.

Into the Abbey

The party ranks are a little low this week, so Mayfly hires a mute forester who we name Spruce. We give him an extra suit of devilman chainmail and stick him in the front ranks of our party.

We return to level three, through the graveyard, to the room with the weird sigils from last week. Luckily our path to it has not changed due to the abbey's shifting nature.

Helusch casts Read Magic on the sigils and we learn they are a part of a spell to align the dungeon to Armadeus.

Mayfly consults some of his notes and believes that the Deermen were trying to align the dungeon to a False Master using a similar spell on a floor above and the blind brudders were trying to counter that with this sigil last week.

We don't yet know what effect that would have on the abbey and our delves into it, but it couldn't be anything good.

The sigils resemble an item known as the Crown Called Deceit, a powerful magical object attributed to Armadeus, who, according to legend, uses the crown to see through the eyes of all her supplicants.

Friday, May 31, 2024

Nightwick Abbey - Session 94 - Unprepared and Unpunished For It

Previously, in Nightwick Abbey...

Want to learn more about the world of Nightwick from Miranda Elkins? You can follow her blog here and the ongoing development of Nightwick Abbey at her Patreon here.

Session 94 - 30th of Youngers, 1398

This week's adventurers:

Blossom (Rogue 6)

Ulf (Magician 4)

Liminal Space (Changeling 4)

Poppy (Fighter 4) 

Krupe (Cleric 4)

Thekla (Magician 3) 

Lump (Frogling 1)

Hirelings: Niklaus (Fighter 2), Assman (Fighter 2), Helusch (Magician 1)

Downtime in the Village

Ulf has been away from the abbey for some time, but is back now and ready to delve again! He's heard tales of the defeat of Balotis, the Piteous Worm of the Abbey and of how our adventures have caused the architecture of the abbey to rearrange on level 3.

Liminal has spent his downtime researching old tomes for rumors of a magic shield. He has come away with two rumors - first that a magic shield was buried with a figure known as "Great King Death." Second, the other adventuring party has been looking for the treasure store of the wicked demon known as Plutus, which could contain such an item. 

We have already had dealings with Plutus's Flymen underlings on level 4 and know of a Staff of Dispelling in his possession - perhaps there is a shield there as well.

Back Into The Crypts

We decide to go into level 3 this week to continue to map out its new layout. Additionally, if Great King Death was buried in the abbey, it would likely be on level 3.

And so we proceed up to the buried abbey outside of Nightwick Village early in the morning and enter through the graveyard entrance directly onto level 3.

As soon as we enter into Nightwick the outside light behind us disappears instantly - the entrance chamber has long since shifted into the middle of the floor. It's a strict one-way passage for us now.

Friday, May 10, 2024

Nightwick Abbey - Session 91 - “They did in fact get mad at you for kink shaming them."


 Previously, in Nightwick Abbey: Ulf was unable to delve into the horrors of Nightwick last week, but at the Medusa's Head he heart the tales of horror, of how the noble cleric Voorhis fell to the piteous worm Balotis, but the party was able to avenge him by killing the foul beast.

Want to learn more about the world of Nightwick from Miranda Elkins? You can follow her blog here and the ongoing development of Nightwick Abbey at her Patreon here.

Session 91 - 18th of Elders, 1398

This week's adventurers:

Blossom (Rogue 6)

Mayfly (Magician 5) 

Mechtilde (Fighter 5)

Ulf (Magician 4)

Liminal Space (Changeling 4)

Poppy (Fighter 3) 

Krupe (Cleric 3)

Thekla (Magician 2) 

Lump (Frogling 1)

Hirelings: Niklaus (Fighter 1)

Downtime in the Village

This week in downtime, Thekla learned a new spell. Which one was it, Ulf wasn't paying attention. He spent the week getting caught up on the exploits of the last week - noble Voorhis died slaying Balotis - the piteous, radioactive worm that haunted level 2. 

This week, we're going to the other level 2 in the abbey to find the Bleeding Baroness - the other "boss" of level 2 after Balotis.

Boss Hunting

We make it down to the landing of level 2 without incident, stepping out onto the floor in a 30' by 20' room decorated with two columns, carved to depict the Lady of the Church bleeding, with actual, thin blood trickling down the columns.

We go west from here - we don't know where the Baroness is, but we've well explored the eastern part of the level, so west is the obvious choice.

We pass through the room of Law, where we recovered the Shard of God, to the room painted all black (I really need to include more pictures of the map in these posts) and from there, west through a secret door.

Saturday, March 30, 2024

Nightwick Abbey - Session 89 - "Old Men Crossed With Nude Mice"

Previously, in Nightwick Abbey...

Want to learn more about the world of Nightwick from Miranda Elkins? You can follow her blog here and the ongoing development of Nightwick Abbey at her Patreon here.

Session 89 - 28th of Primes, 1398

This week's adventurers:

Mayfly (Magician 5) 

Mechtilde (Fighter 5)

Ulf (Magician 4)

Liminal Space (Changeling 4)

Poppy (Fighter 3) 

Voorhis (Cleric 3)

Krupe (Cleric 3)

Thekla (Magician 2)

Hirelings: Niklaus (Fighter 1), Assman (Fighter 1)

Down to the Abbey

This week we decide to play things safe and go down to level 2, to the realm of the Bleeding Baroness. Mechtilde insists that she needs to extract a sample from the Gibbet Cage monsters down there.

We enter Nightwick Abbey through the remains of an old bell tower that still sticks out of the ground. On our was through level 1, we come across a door swollen shut, blocking our path.

We suspect that something is behind the door so Mayfly casts ESP and shifts his focus to behind the door. He detects a group of very simple thoughts on the other side.

Baptize a Rat

Mechtilde forces open the door to reveal several Dregs - short figures that resemble old men crossed with nude mice.

They're grouped up around a baptismal font, trying to push one of their members up into the font to drink from it.

Saturday, March 23, 2024

Nightwick Abbey - Session 88 - Battered by Ghouls and Buckets of Gold

 

Previously, in Nightwick Abbey...

Want to learn more about the world of Nightwick from Miranda Elkins? You can follow her blog here and the ongoing development of Nightwick Abbey at her Patreon here.

Session 88 - 21st of Primes 1398

This week's adventurers:

Blossom (Rogue 6)

Mayfly (Magician 5) 

Mechtilde (Fighter 5)

Ulf (Magician 4)

Liminal Space (Changeling 4)

Poppy (Fighter 3) 

Voorhis (Cleric 3)

Krupe (Cleric 3)

Thekla (Magician 2)

Hirelings: Niklaus (Fighter 1)

Downtime in the Village

Ulf and Blossom spent the week carousing for XP and both wound up sick. Father Roderick of Nightwick Village offers to request a scroll of Cure Disease from the Bishop (for a price), however St. Samson left us with a bundle of such scrolls after we rescued him and we are able to use those to cure ourselves for free.

Mayfly attempt to do research on the lower levels of Nightwick Abbey, but only ends up losing a lot of cash to bad scholars.

It is a dark and stormy morning as we leave the village and head into the abbey. There's a noticeable change in air pressure as we enter into the crypts on level 3, which throws off Liminal Space's delicate Changeling sensitivities.

Saturday, March 16, 2024

Nightwick Abbey - Session 87 - Phantasmal Force is Finally Effective

Previously, in Nightwick Abbey... 

Want to learn more about the world of Nightwick? You can follow the creator's blog here and the ongoing development of Nightwick Abbey at her Patreon here.

Session 87 - 14th of Primes 1398

This week's adventurers:

Blossom (Rogue 6)

Mayfly (Magician 5)

Ulf (Magician 4)

Liminal Space (Changeling 4)

Voorhis (Cleric 3)

Krupe (Cleric 3)

Poppy (Fighter 3)

Hirelings: Assman (Fighter 1), Helusch (Magician 1), Niklaus (Fighter 1)

Downtime in the Village

Flush with cash, several of the party went carousing this week. Most had pleasant expierences, but Mayfly wound up in trouble after a night of drinking and was arrested by a figures known as Fingers who made him fork over a fine of 80gp to avoid arrest.

Swearing revenge against his new foe, Mayfly forks over the cash and remains out of prison...for now.

This week, we decide to return to level 4 for more exploration and hopefully treasure.

Down Into the Abbey

On our  way through level 3, Blossom, scouting ahead, turns a corner a spies a dozen cultists standing in our way, right outside the stairs down.

Liminal pops out of the corner and surprises the cultists with a sleep spell.

The leader of the cultist, in a silver mask, cries out as 6 of his companions drop and hurls a Fire Ball at the party. Mayfly is hit, and screams out in pain! Assman and Niklaus are also hit and drop down, dead!

Weirdly, the rest of the party, who made their saves, takes no damage from the fire and feel no heat coming off of it at all...

Poppy fires arrow off, but misses, and Liminal Space follows up with another round of Sleep, putting the rest of the cultists down!

Not Quite Dead

We inspect our "dead" only to uncover that they are unconscious - the victims of Phantasmal Force apparently, though Mayfly still insists that his burns are real.

On the cultists' bodies (after we kill them), we find 100gp and on the leader, a silver mask worth 100sp.

We continue on, reaching level 4 without issue.

A Game About Doors

We go south, to explore new areas, to the fountain room.

We continue on, and try to force open the next door, but fail so horribly that most of the party gets covered in slime spraying out from the door as the result of poor crowbar usage.

Eventually, we get the door open and come to a 20' corridor leading to a 30' by 30' room, with four pillars made to look like swords - this is where we fought the blind dead last week. Thankfully, there's no more undead here today.

To our west, we see a large room filled with a white fog.

To the east and south are hallways with additional doors.

Fly-Person Industry

We go east, to the first set of doors. Liminal listens south and hears the sound of a hammer hitting metal. Blossom listens north and hears sounds of rushing wind and hissing.

Before we can act, the door east opens up! We scramble into position as a Fly-Person, holding a glaive and a steaming sword in each hand, steps into the hallway.

Mayfly greets him, but he is curt and demands that he has to pass through the southern door quickly.

We see figures in the room to the east, crowding around the door, watching us. Then the northern door opens! And there is another Fly-Person, holding a hot iron rod.

We back up, and the three Fly-People watching us carry new, glowing hot swords to the north, before returning east. The one to the north brings his rod south.

This is clearly a smithing operation, though it is strange that its spread out across at least three rooms.

Mayfly glimpses a particularly large Fly-Person wielding a hammer to the north, banging on swords.

Iron and Tears

We decide to give the smiths some space and go back to the pillared room and go south.

There are doors to the east and west and further along, the hallway branches off to the sides as well.

Blossom listens and hears loud crying to the east and nothing to the west.

We open the door west to reveal a 30' by 20' room filled with crates.

We open the first crate to find it full of bloody, rusted iron rods.

We continue looking through the crates, but only find more iron rods.

After a turn, Poppy, who had been keeping watch, sees a Fly-Person walk around the corner we came from, see us, and turn away sheepishly.

Back to the Village

After a half-hearted, failed attempt to open the door east, to the crying room, we decide to call it for the week, and return back to Nightwick Village.

We return with 1,100sp total, for 137sp each, and we each get 281xp, with our hirelings each gaining a half share. A meager haul, but we also faced few challenges this week. Maybe that will all change next week, as we return to Nightwick Abbey!

Nightwick Abbey - Session 97 - Not at Home

Previously, in Nightwick Abbey... Want to learn more about the world of Nightwick from Miranda? You can follow her blog here and the ongoin...