Sunday 7 July 2019

The Quest finale.

This tale picks up from here............The Quest continued.
The fight with the Carrion Crawler went well for the party, Beska (the MU) fired off a magic missile which hurt the creature, sending it scurrying up the left hand wall towards the ceiling before Trebbelos (the Elf) sent an arrow straight into its head! As soon as the monster crashed to the floor Krago (the Dwarf) laid into it with his battleaxe, finishing the the fight.

As soon as they regrouped, the adventurers set off back to the room containing the chest.
Beska and Krago decided provided the brains and brawn to tackle the chest, while Pendora (the Cleric) and Trebbelos checked the two other doors in the room.
Beska couldn't see any obvious "clever" ways to get the lid open, so signaled to Krago to try and smash it open - one flex of his muscles later and the Dwarf gave a grunt as he swung his axe, splintering the lid of the chest and giving them access to the contents.
The chest mainly held a stash of paperwork - signed contracts, business agreements and figure tallies (including lists of debtors and the amounts they owed). There was however a leather pouch containing what must be the best part of 5000gp worth of gems. "This will expenses" laughed Beska as he and the Dwarf went to check how the other two were doing with the doors.

Trebbelos could hear nothing behind his door, but neither could he open it. It was securely locked, and the metal construction looked as though it would resist their best efforts to break it open.
Pendora was having better luck though - all quiet behind this one, and it was unlocked!
The door opened to reveal a short corridor leading to an ascending flight of stairs.
Making their way to the top of the steps, their luck held, as the door facing them was also unlocked. Opening it an peering inside, they could only see an empty room with no further exits.
Deciding to enter the room to have a thorough look inside, the group were shocked when a howling Wight materialised in the room!
The immaterial creature aimed a vicious swipe at Trebbelos, who managed to dodge the blow while Krago tried to cleave its legs away with a swing of his axe - only to see the blade pass harmlessly through the apparitions appendiges.
Pendora raised her holy symbol before her and cried "Begone Foul Beast!" as she attempted to 'turn' the undead being. The Wight dissipated with a shrieking howl as it returned to the plane from which it had appeared. "Praise be to Sigmar", the trembling cleric uttered (she needed an 11 on 2D6 for the success!) as she kissed the holy relic.

Beska was sure there was more to this room than met the eye, he was also more than a little reluctant to retrace their steps yet again, so he instructed the party  to check the walls - "Look for anything, a loose stone, a tiny opening.... anything"
His hunch proved right, and it was he who found a secret door cleverly built into the wall opposite to where they'd entered the room!
Once a loose stone was pushed inwards to provide a hand hold, the door slid open sideways to reveal another, identically sized chamber. This one DID have a normal door in the far wall, while both side walls were lined with sarcophagi.

Having a good look around revealed nothing more than that all of the interred remains bore the same family name.
The door was once again unlocked, but this time as it was carefully cracked open, the adventurers eyes were assailed by bright sunlight!
Relieved to feel the kiss of fresh air on their skin, they stepped out blinking against the brightness from the crypt they'd just been standing in
and found themselves in a HUGE graveyard!
To the West, they could hear the unmistakable sounds of a city, so set off along the well tended pathways............ totally unaware of the intense malicious  gaze that followed them!
As they approached the sound of civilisation, they could see that the entire cemetry was surrounded by a wall, so they headed towards the nearest gateway......
....before stepping out of the tranquility of the graveyard and into the bustle of the street - where two members of the watch were just passing!
Beska cleared his throat - "Excuse me sirs, my companions and I are lost, could you tell us where we are?"
"Hmmph, we can that., since you've just left the City of the Dead by this particular gate, you are just off Sammerin's Street and are on the intersection of the North and Trades Wards."
"But of WHERE, and are we anywhere near The Empire??"
"This is the city of Waterdeep sir, but I'm afraid I know of no inn or tavern by that name."
Beska thanked the watchmen and quickly motioned to his companions to follow him off down the street, leaving the City Watch to their 'business' before arousing any suspicion......... but how could anyone think "The Empire" was the name of a drinking establishment - just how far away from home are they??
And with that thought, Beska, Pendora, Trebbelos and Krago set off to find themselves a tavern after their recent exploits, where they could find food, drink, and hopefully find out where in the world they are!

Quite late with this post, but hobby related doings have been ticking along splendidly - just not really "post-worthy" before this point. I DID have a draft treatise on where I thought I was going with my choice of rules - but the good folks over on The Game Cupboard blog are to thank for a re-think on that one, and this AAR is the result.
Many thanks for visiting, and your comments or critiques are as welcome as ever.

28 comments:

  1. Wonderful report. I particularly liked the photography that brought us through the underworld of the crypt to the outside - very cinematic.

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    1. Many thanks Michael - the "low walls" that are available for 3D dungeons are much better for playability, but don't contribute anything towards the claustrophobic atmosphere of underground encounters IMHO.

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  2. Very enjoyable Greg & would agree with Michael's comment above :)

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    1. You're very kind Frank - does this mean it's worth me sending my CV over to Nickel & Dime studios? ;-)

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    2. You be a very welcomed addition Greg but be warned the pay is very poor :)

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  3. Great instalment Greg, have to agree with Michael the photography really sells the story

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    1. Hi Dave, many thanks and great to hear from you - how's the moving and everything going?

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    2. Slow mate ! Feels like one step forward and ten back most days ! But will get there soon hopefully ! LOL

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  4. Another vote for your photography skills, Greg. Good photography can enhance any batrep, just as poor photography can devalue it.

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    1. Cheers Bryan, though I'm starting to get concerned - yours is the fourth (out of four) comments about the photography ;-)

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  5. Great report it looks fab. Well done mate!

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    1. Phew! Thanks Simon (for not mentioning the photography), I was beginning to worry ;-)

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  6. What a cracking game, and so well told. Photography is delightful. You certainly have a new fan and follower here.

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    1. Many thanks for your kind comments Dave, and thank you for hitting the 'follow' button :-)
      But you had to go and add another mention on the photography to the count ;-)

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  7. I love it I love it I love it. This is just incredible. I gasped with excitement (and happy surprise) when the party immerged in the graveyard of The City of the Dead and then plodded their way down Sammerin's Street. Just fantastic Greg, can`t praise it any more highly. Just fantastic.

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    1. Yay! :-)
      I was really, really hoping that someone familiar with Waterdeep would 'connect' with my humble rendition of it on the table top - and of course, it means that you'll also understand the nature of the 'mini dungeon' under the crypt (which might seem a bit odd to those not in the know)
      You just made it "mission accomplished" Tarot :-)

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  8. This made me smile. This made me happy. This is rpg played at its best, and is a testimony to hobby creativity at its supreme height of achievement. The photos are gorgeously executed. You must tell us your secret ^

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    1. Thanks yet again for your kind comments Hils - you're obviously a kindred spirit when it comes to Old Skool Roleplaying games :-)
      You're the sixth person to comment on the photo's, so I'd better come clean - I have astigmatism, which manifests itself in wonky photo's. The display on my camera is also too small for me to preview the image very clearly when I'm taking 'in game' shots. So,
      I simply take three photo's (the "power of three" usually means I get at least ONE in focus) of each scene I want to capture, then I use "Photoscape" to straighten them up :-)
      Other than that, I changed the lightbulb in my games room to an LED bulb so I don't get a yellow colour cast, and I have two small desk lamps (not used in the above photo's) on shelving above the table that can change the amount of light and direction of shadows if I need to show 'the passage of time'.
      As requested M'lady, the 'secret' is out :-)

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    2. Now that actually makes lot of good sense. Thank`y m` Lord.

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  9. Simple really. Only needs one word.

    >>>> SUPER!!! <<<<<

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    1. Many thanks Stevie :-)
      Quite what the future holds for the adventurers is yet to be seen ;-)

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  10. I tink I was hooked more by the camer-work, feeling a part of this dungeoneering party.
    Bit of an anticlimax ending, but one I would have settled for as an adventurer.
    Another episode that evoked my DnD nostalgia.

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    1. Cheers Joe, you must fall into the "once bitten, forever smitten" category if it tapped into your DnD nostalgia ;-)
      I can understand why you might find it a bit anti-climatic, but this is only the end of their (failed) quest, and part of a larger campaign / story arc :-)

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  11. A nice tale, I've never partaken of a RPG like this and your story makes me regret it quite a lot.
    As has been mentioned you have done a great job with the photos.

    Reading your atz games, I'm always on edge hoping that your heroes will succeed but somehow expecting it will all go to rat sh*t, with this it always seemed the heroes would succeed although in what I'm not sure.
    Would that seem reasonable or am I being biased?

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    1. Thanks John, and welcome back to the interweb, are you still afloat?
      I can understand your views of the two genres (especially if you've not played D&D), and the simplest explanation is that with ATZ the 'threat level' facing your characters is ALWAYS stacked high, but in D&D it TENDS to be proportional to the level of the player characters - and in this case they are low level.
      As for measuring their success, well they actually failed in their task completely - BUT, they survived, they escaped being trapped in the last episode, and they've made it out of the dungeon with some financial gain plus some experience under their belts. What happens in future episodes their story will provide the next measure of success.
      Hope the above makes sense :-)

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    2. Cheers, yes it made sense, I always think that survival in these sorts of games is a success irrespective of the task at hand, but it seems a bit artificial having low level tasks for low level characters although I can see the reasoning behind it.
      Yep still floating, which is much better than the alternative :)

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  12. Great stuff Greg! And I'll have to echo everyone else's comments about the photography - that was going to be my first comment and then I saw everyone else said the same thing lol!
    Waterdeep! Can't wait for more :)

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