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.

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.

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 86 - Giving Level 4 Another Shot

Previously, in Nightwick Abbey...

Session 86 - 7th of Primes 1398

This week's adventurers:

Blossom (Rogue 6)

Mayfly (Magician 5)

Mechtilde (Fighter 5)

Ulf (Magician 4)

Liminal Space (Changeling 4)

Krupe (Cleric 3)

Poppy (Fighter 3)

Thekla (Magician 2)

Hirelings: Two Big Shieldmen

Downtime in the Village

Happy New Year from the Dark Country! With the month of Primes rings in the new year. Anne, Lady of Blackleg is hosting a jousting tournament, and rumor has it that she intends to marry the winner...

...However, jousts do not interest our party and so we return to the depths of Nightwick Abbey, as single and celibate as ever. 

We decide to return to level 4, in an attempt to "milk" some gold out of the fly-men who gave us a bad time the last time we down there.

Happening in Nightwick

Ulf was absent last week and this week he notices we have two new hirelings - two large fellas with tall pavises (tall shields that can be stuck into the ground). He asks Mechtilde and Liminal Space the names of their new hirelings and they simply shrug and don't have an answer. 

Two weeks ago, Krupe had to cast Turn Undead to save our party from being overwhelmed by the undead. In response, the Abbey shifted around us. 

Last week, the party discovered that the graveyard entrance to level 3 in now to the northeast of where it used to be - in the middle of the level currently. Due to the Abbey's peculiar natures, we can enter through that door into the middle of the floor, but if we turn around and go back through the door, it will no longer take us out. We'll have to remap the floor to find the new exit.

Nightwick Abbey - Session 84 - Where We Explore The Abbey For 90 Minutes And Then Get Knocked On Our Asses

Previously, in Nightwick Abbey...

Do the horrors of Nightwick Intrigue you? Do you seek adventures on isles distant? Miranda, the Mastermind of Malevolence behind Nightwick Abbey is running another open campaign: set in the last bastion of a famed wizard, Cuccagna awaits you!

Session 84 - 22nd of Duodecember, 1397

This week's adventurers:

Blossom (Rogue 6)

Mechtilde (Fighter 5)

Ulf (Magician 4)

Liminal Space (Changeling 4)

Krupe (Cleric 3)

Voorhis (Cleric 3)

Poppy (Fighter 3)

Thekla (Magician 1)

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

Downtime in the Village

Ulf spends his downtime researching and discovers rumors that within Nightwick Abbey there is a portal to the ruins of Ancient Acheron - the first human civilization. 

Liminal Space also trades the demon's smoke we recovered last week to Halfdan the Necromancer for a Potion of Rat Control. He promises us 500sp if we find out whether or not it works on the rat-crow Groans that we've encountered before.

Into The Abbey

This week, we decide to continue our exploration of level 3, still not feeling confident enough to return to level 4.

We enter through the graveyard entrance and travel to the far end of level 3. We loosely have a plan to go to the statue of Valax, Duke of Hell, and steal his crown (again) to sell it.

Outside of his room, first, we decide to explore north. In this next room, the walls are covered in green and purple carvings of hell depicting sinners being tortured. We see Mayfly, Mechtilde, and Liminal Space all carved into the wall for having sold their secrets to demons in the past.

Nightwick Abbey - Session 83 - Low Combat, Max Treasure

Previously, in Nightwick Abbey...

Session 83 - 15th of Duodecember, 1397

This week's adventurers:

Mechtilde (Fighter 5)

Ulf (Magician 4)

Liminal Space (Changeling 4)

Krupe (Cleric 2)

Poppy (Fighter 2) 

Voorhis (Cleric 2)

Thekla (Magician 1)

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

Downtime in the Village

Ulf was absent for last week's delve but was regaled with stories of the party fighting endlessly in a single 30' by 30' room. Since our last session, Blossom has also attained level 6! Alas, she and Mayfly both are unavailable this week for the delve.

During our downtime in the village, Ulf researches, gaining 800xp at the cost of 800 silver, but loses 2hp from paper cuts (worth it). Mechtilde ordered construction of a spear attached to a bellows for the purpose of sucking up the smoke that is produced when a Knight of Armadeus is killed. The offer of healing potions in exchange for smoke is still valid in the village.

Ulf also sought to restock on torches, but the village supply is somehow completely extinguished! Hopefully, he has enough for this week's delve. We decide to return to level 3 to continue exploring the unexplored bits.

Into the Catacombs

We enter the accursed  abbey through the graveyard entrance, straight onto level 3.

We traverse through the level to the four glowing sigils that once kept level 4 locked away.

At the first one, we go south to an intersection. This area is different than our maps show. The abbey must have shifted at some point.

Ahead of us and to our right (west), we see three alcoves with glints of silver in them.

To the east, we see a room - the details unimportant, we see a great black and shaggy shape moving in the darkness of the room. Surely it knows of us from our torchlight, but it seems to ignore us.

Nightwick Abbey - Session 81 - "That's a lot of lip for something with no skin"

Previously, in Nightwick Abbey...

Session 81 - 1st of Duodecember, 1397

This week's adventurers:

Blossom (Rogue 5)

Mayfly (Magician 5)

Mechtilde (Fighter 5)

Cherwe (Cleric 5)

Ulf (Magician 4)

Liminal Space (Changeling 4)

Krupe (Cleric 2)

Poppy (Fighter 2) 

Voorhis (Cleric 2)

Thekla (Magician 1)

Downtime in the Village

The party was successful at petitioning Father Winter to reincarnate Verinka...however she was brought back at level 1, and so a new character, the Magician Thekla was rolled up in her place.

Mayfly spent the week studying old tomes of Nightwick for rumors of locations to the bones of the Master - the Golden skull he keeps on his person, who he claims can talk to him. Mayfly learned the master used to spend time in the catacombs - we assume this means the level 3 ossuaries.

"This would be a lot easier if you remembered where you left your body parts." 

And so, we decide to return to level 3 in search of golden bones.

Leaving the village early in the morning, we approach the abbey from the west and, passing through the graveyard, we notice 10 freshly dug graves waiting there for us.

We continue into Nightwick Abbey, into the large room decorated with sarcophagi and two now-empty plinths that once held angel statues.

Heading north, we come to an ossuary, 30' x 20'. It's walls are lined with skulls.

The Bone Zone

As soon as we step into the room, the bones in the ossuary begin to rattle and make a great noise.

Nightwick Abbey - Session 80 - RIP To A Real One

Previously, in Nightwick Abbey...

Session 80 - 25th of Undecember, 1397

This week's adventurers:

Mechtilde (Fighter 5)

Ulf (Magician 4)

Verinka (Changeling 4)

Liminal Space (Changeling 4)

Voorhis (Cleric 2)

Poppy (Fighter 2) 

Hirelings: Helusch (Magician 1), Niklaus (Fighter 1), Kite, Bero the Bandit

Downtime in the Village

Liminal leveled up since last session and learns Phantasmal Force and Knock.

New hirelings offer themselves up for service:

Bero the Bandit, armed with a falchion and leather armor and missing two fingers, has a large "B" branded on his forehead. Unable to find work in polite company, he offers up his service for 2gp/month plus 1gp danger pay.

Kite the Woodsman has recently lost a hand, but is still able to fight with an ax. He offers to work for 1gp/month and 1gp danger pay per delve. 

Liminal space hires Kite and Mechtilde, who's never met someone she couldn't fix, hires Bero the Bandit. 

The party also stocks up on oil for fire bombs, just in case.

Into the Dungeon

This week, with a small party and no Mayfly, we decide to go to level 2 to kill a gibbet monster to impress Dhinron, the magic sword who hates undead who Mechtilde also wants to date. 

We also see out a Knight of Armadeus known as the Manager on level 2 - the cleric Johanna, another adventurer in Nightwick from the other group, has offered us healing potions in exchange for capturing the smoke that a knight emits when it dies. She has also provided us with a bellows and a glass bottle for this purpose.

Nightwick Abbey - Session 79 - Our Worst Plan Yet

Previously, in Nightwick Abbey...

Session 79 - 18th of Undecember, 1397

This week's adventurers:

Blossom (Rogue 5) 

Mayfly (Magician 5)

Mechtilde (Fighter 5)

Ulf (Magician 4)

Verinka (Changeling 4)

Cherwe (Cleric 3)

Liminal Space (Changeling 3)

Krupe (Cleric 2)

Voorhis (Cleric 2)

Poppy (Fighter 2)

Downtime in the Village

Ulf unfortunately missed last session, but the rest of the party caught him up with tales of a golden calf and silver coins. 

In the downtime between delves, we've heard rumors from the other party of a demon on level 4 who appeared out of thin air to kill one of their hirelings. They also allude to a "trick" for finding and opening secret doors, but reveal no more to us.

Mechtilde has researched the fly-men of level 4 and learns that they are "quasi-demonic" but are not necessarily harmed by things that harm demons.

Into the Abbey

Early in the morning, we leave Nightwick village and make our way into the abbey through the graveyard entrance. As we pass by the crypts of level 3, we see the glow of the disintegrating orb.

We've been yet to be able to harm this thing, but we've had a theory that a spell of Continual Darkness could kill this being of pure light.

And so, Ulf creeps ahead of the party to cast Continual Darkness on the creature. He sees the large glowing ball of a creature hovering in an ossuary and fires off his spell...

A Really Bad Plan

...but nothing apparently happens. The creature is unaffected by Darkness.

The orb takes notice of Ulf and approaches him before exploding in light. A tendril of light lashes out and attaches itself to Ulf for 6 damage!

The squishy magician quickly retreats, the tendril still attached to his chest, and Mechtilde approaches the orb and hits it twice for great damage.

Protect the Magician From His Own Mistakes

Blossom uses her sword, the Shard of God, to sever the tendril attached to Ulf and after another round of combat, the orb, identified to us as a Vault Weaver, falls to the ground, deflated.

Apparently, we've never tried to just hit it with regular weapons, which it is vulnerable to.

Mayfly and Ulf scoop up some orb goop from its corpse and we forget to bind Ulf's wounds before advancing down to level 4.

Level 4

One we reach the entrance landing, we head west, to the room with the pool where the party retrieved the silver coins last delve.

Blossom listens at the north and west doors and hears nothing - mildly concerning as we expected to hear the buzzing of fly-men. 

A Suspiciously Empty Room

Mechtilde forces open the north door to reveal a 30' by 20' room, made of monumental sandstone blocks, with a single door opposite us.

After unsuccessfully searching for hidden doors, Mechtilde opens up the next door into a room 30' deep that extends to our right into the darkness, beyond our torchlight. There is also a door 10' to our left.

There is an opening in the wall across from us and two big columns in the room. 

Level 5!

Mayfly pulls something out of his pocket, whispers to it in his cupped hand and, a minute later, announces that he's learned the full dimension of the room - 90' by 30', with three total columns, another door on the opposite wall, and, on the same side of the room as us, are a set of stairs going down! 

Surely this is the way to level 5!!!

We go to examine the stairs but find purple mists obscuring the passage down, halting our way. (Player's note: this is how the DM signals to us that the area's not ready for play yet).

Examining the columns of the room, they depict bull-headed demons killing little gold guys in black togas. Mayfly recognizes them as Acheronians, an ancient people.

Liminal's Supposed to be the Charismatic One

Liminal listens at the door to the west and hears buzzing. Opening the door, we see a room 20' deep that extends to our left (south) beyond our torchlight.

Seven of the fly-men are also in the room by the door.

Liminal steps forward to greet them, "Hello everyone! It's me."

"It's him - get him!"

A New, Gross Attack

The fly-men are unhappy to see us and six of them move up to us, crowding around the door with their polearms.

The one in front of Mechtilde opens up its proboscis and shoots boiling hot gold at her! She makes her save but still takes 4 damage and gains a new gold facemask.

An Old, Very Effective Attack

Liminal is hit twice by the fly-men polearms for 12 damage! He's alive but barely.

Ulf fails to cast Light and Mayfly casts sleep, but it has no effect - they appear to be greater than 4HD!

This isn't a good sign for us, so Mayfly casts Web on them, capturing four of the flies and blocking the doorway.

Further Chaos

Liminal attempts to parlay with the stuck fly-men, but they are mad at the dignity being trapped in a web.

The remaining unstuck fly-men run south and Mayfly and Blossom rush to block the door south for fear of being surrounded.

Liminal hypnotizes the front two fly-men in the web and orders them to vomit on each other.

They do so and it catches the web on fire - damaging them further, but the web will be burnt up in two rounds.

Ulf casts Phantasmal Force to manifest the image of a bull-headed demon attacking the stuck fly-men from behind.

Mechtilde, empowered by her sword, kills the front two fly-men and the three that had run off return to help deal with the demon illusion.

An  Back to the Village

At this, we decide to retreat while the web is still blocking our rear and leave the abbey without incident.

We manage to scrape 10gp worth of gold off of Mechtilde's face and we each gain 81xp.

Certainly a disappointing result, treasure-wise, but no one died and we found the path to level 5! We'll have to devise better methods for dealing with those fly-men and we might want to consier looting more of levels 2 and 3 to level up the party more for future delves.

Perfectly balanced, as all things should be.