Savage Worlds Fantasy Campaign: Desperate Times: Session Three

Real World Date: August 13, 2016

Campaign World Date: ?

The Party

Khelgar Ironfist - A dwarven warrior who fights with a huge double-bladed axe. He rides into battle on a fearsome battle goat. Played by Jeremy.

Lilly - A human articifer with a pet raven named Malik. Played by Justin.

"Sir" Malith - A human sellsword who was involved in the regicide with River. He too is wanted by the human kingdom. Played by Thomas.

River - An incredibly beautiful elven ranger who killed a human king. The hunter is now the hunted. Played by Miranda.

Runt - An ogre warrior. Played by Jacob.

Sluff - An obese ogre alchemist who worships the god Saint Stephen. He wields a large club with a bull's skull on the end and uses a door as a shield. Played by Heath.

Special Guest Star: Yencid, a human sorcerer. Played by Jack.

When Last We Left Our Intrepid Heroes:

The party seeks the Fire Opal of Xendra, which lies somewhere in the ruins of a monastery. They entered the first room of the monastery's dungeon and encountered a large number of zombies and the magical statues that reanimated them. The heroes destroyed the statues and then finished off the walking dead. Now, they are preparing to explore the rest of the dungeon . . . .

The Tale

Exploring the Dungeon

• The party heard a noise from behind the door on the west wall. Opening the door, they discovered a human sorcerer, Yencid. He had been part of the war band led by Magloy the Ugly. The orcs had fought the zombies and been routed. They fled, but Yencid was separated and had to hide in the west hallway.

• Down the west hallway were three doors. Runt opened two of the doors at once. He was hit a blast of yellow mold and a swarm of rats. He shook off the mold and dispersed the rat swarm with a mighty sweep of his oversize foot.

• Runt opened the third door and was hit with a blast of fire. He nimbly (for an ogre) dodged out the way. Beyond the door lay a library of books and scrolls dedicated to a god named Kahokatan of the Ancient Eyes.

• Sluff was disgusted by these books and proceeded to burn everything in the name of his god, St. Stephen.

The Water Room

• Runt then went down the east hallway. He kicked in the single door at the end of the passage. Beyond was a room containing a natural pool of running water. A large number of coins and gems littered the bottom of the pool.

• River reached in and grabbed some coins. The water bubbled and frothed and a strange creature emerged. It looked like a wave of water, but it did not collapse, as a wave should. Two eyes seemed to stare at the party from the solid wall of water. The elf had summoned a water elemental.

• The water elemental seemed curious and said, "You are not dead." At which point the party grew tired of talking and attacked. Very shortly, the water elemental was dead. The party stripped the pool of every coin and gem and then left.

Not a Dead End

• The party then proceeded south. They came to a large room. Across the room was a stone bier and a pedestal that held a large orange gem the size of a man's head that glowed with magical light. Was this the Fire Opal.

• Touching the gem and invoking the name of Kahokatan caused a section of the floor and wall to spin. The party ripped the gem out of the pedestal and took it with them.

Battle with Undead, Knife Throwing Adepts

• The spinning section of floor and wall took some members of the party into a room full of stone biers with skeletons atop them. Other party members were left behind in the original room. They were pleased to discover that the previous section of floor had been replaced with a  duplicate section with another pedestal with a glowing orange gem on it. The party ripped that gem out of its mount and claimed it as well. (That is 2 glowing orange gems. This will be important as the story unfolds.)

• At the end of the room was another bier next to a pedestal with a glowing orange gem on it. The skeletons arose and started chucking daggers at the party.  As the party killed the skeletons, more came to unlife. A great battle ensued. The party fought their way to the other end.

• Touching the glowing orange gem and saying the name Kahokatan did nothing. Yencid was able to read the runes around the pedestal and figured out that this gem was dedicated to Xendra, a demi-god lieutenant of Kahokatan. The party members invoked the name of Xendra, and again the floor and wall pivoted. They ripped the glowing orange gem out of its pedestal. (For a total of 3 glowing orange gems.)

• The remaining party members in the room with the undead saw that the new section of floor contained another glowing orange gem. They invoked Xendra and spun the section of floor. Then they ripped out the glowing orange gem. The party took that one too. (That is now 4 glowing orange gems.)

Another Pool Room

• The party found themselves into a room with a number of stone biers, plenty of (non-animated) skeletons, and a small pool at one end. Another pedestal held a glowing orange gem. The party crossed the stream and claimed that gem as well. (We are now up to 5 glowing orange gems, each the size of a man's head.

• Suspicious that it was so easy, the party searched the room. River found that one of the stone biers was actually hollow. Runt lifted the entire slab and shattered it against the wall. A narrow set of stairs were revealed, leading down into darkness.

• Malith and River proceeded down. Sluff went next, but he could not fit his obese frame through the entrance so the party lubed him up with some cooking oil they had on hand. The ogre then pushed himself into the opening, shooting through it like a quickling on pipeweed. He landed on top of River, crushing and killing her. The entire party gathered around her corpse and Runt said a few words. Rather unexpectedly, River recovered and seemed perfectly fine. [River took 29 points of damage and was indeed Incapacitated. Someone played the Eulogy Adventure Card, giving everyone another Adventure Card to play. Then someone else played the Bring in the Clones Adventure Card, bringing River back perfectly intact.]

The Demon and the Real Fire Opal of Xendra

• The party found themselves in a small room that contained another pedestal with a glowing orange gem. The room also held a rather large demon. The demon seemed curious, stating, "You are not priests of the Temple of the Ancient Eyes.

• The party immediately attacked, slaying the demon in one blow. As it died, the demon exploded in a large ball of balefire and brimstone, but everyone survived.

• Malith grabbed the oversized bastard sword used by the demon before it disappeared. It was a valuable trophy but too large to be used by him at the moment. [Thomas played the Hidden Stash Adventure Card.]

• Runt grabbed the Fire Opal and was possessed by some kind of spirit. He muttered something about needing to find the village of Eerie. [Touching the Fire Opal meant an opposed Spirit check versus the Fire Opal's d12 and Wild Die. Runt lost.] The party now had 5 seemingly false fire opals and one genuine Fire Opal of Xendra.

Negotiations with Cateth and Black Jack

• The party encountered Cateth and Black Jack after leaving the monastery. Cateth asked about the Fire Opal. She stated that she was a representative of the Queen and could offer the party great rewards if they gave her the Fire Opal.

• After some negotiation, it was decided that the party would indeed sell the Fire Opal to the Crown. They would escort Cateth and Black Jack to the capital, Narmer, and collect their reward directly from the Queen.

• Runt seemed uncomfortable during the discussion, wanting to leave as soon as possible. Then he seemed very surprised to no longer being in the dungeon. The last thing he remembered was touching the Fire Opal. [The ogre was possessed for about an hour of game time and then recovered.]

Hijinks in Hatchett

• The entire group returned to Hatchett and hijinks ensued.

• For some reason, Sluff thought that there were seven gems, not six. To convince everyone he was right, he took a large rock and carved the words, "Fire Opal" on it, along with some flames. That rock is now officially part of the collection. So, there are now indeed 7 gems.

• The party took turns playing Fire Opal roulette.  One of the 7 gems could possess anyone who touched it. The players rolled a d6 to see if anyone touched the real Fire Opal. Luckily, none did.

• Khelgar has the Big Mouth Hindrance and happily told the entire village of Hatchett about the wondrous treasure that the party had found.

• The party rented rooms at the Inn of the Welcome Wench and stored the fire opals in a secure room. Runt snuck down in the middle of the night in full battle array to try and steal the real Fire Opal. [Jacob was playing Runt's Curious Hindrance.] Everyone in the inn heard him. Throwing caution aside, he rushed in and grabbed the real Fire Opal. Once again, he became possessed by some kind of spirit. The possessed ogre decided to make a run for it and launched his large frame through the window, which resulted in him blowing a huge hole in the inn's wall.

• That led to a merry chase across field and dale. The Fire Opal was exchanged multiple times as characters engaged in opposed checks. Some characters were possessed, some not. Some spells were cast and arrows launched. Some innocent cows were caught in the crossfire.

• After an hour, the party members who had been possessed came to their senses. Cateth and Black Jack showed up and managed to corral all of the party members. Yencid convinced everyone that the Fire Opal caused people to become possessed. He covered it in a cloak and told no one to touch it.

• In the end, the party left Hatchett along with Cateth and Black Jack.

Near Encounter with Sir Matthew

• The party passed a large contingent of soldiers led by Sir Matthew, a knight who was looking for both River and Malith.

• Thinking quickly, Lilly used her Boots of Gaia to take both her and River into the earth, reappearing after Sir Matthew's force had passed.

Fight against an Inept Band of Bugbears

• A band of bugbears tried to ambush the party. Renowned for their ability to move unseen and unheard, these bugbears made no attempt at stealth, attacking in broad daylight. [In this world, bugbears have the ability to turn invisible and have high Stealth skill in addition. I rolled horribly on their attempts to turn Invisible and then rolled horribly on their Stealth checks.] The party cut down the beasts without much of a problem.

•  [At some point, Justin had drawn the one Legend Benny from the bag. During this combat, he blew all of his Bennies save the Legend one trying to get a Raise on his Spellcasting roll. Miranda then played the Karma Adventure Card, stealing the Legend Benny from Justin. Harsh, especially since Lilly had helped save River just the scene before.]

And that's where we stopped for the night.

Quests

Name of Quest	Reward	Status
Find the Fire Opal	Wealth. The Fire Opal is valuable.	Completed
Kill The Beautiful One	Fame. Gratitude of Hatchett and the human kingdom of Ivera.	Open
Take the Fire Opal to Narmer	Fame. Titles of nobility. A magic bow.	Open

XP

2.5 XP awarded. River earns 3.5 XP due to Miranda turning in the Legend Benny. Lilly gains 3.5 due to Justin showing a surprising amount of maturity and not rage quitting when Miranda stole his Legend Benny.

Character	Old XP	XP Earned	New XP	Notes
Khelgar	5	2.5	7.5	Rides a Battle Goat named Heath.
Lilly	5	2.5	8.5	Friends with a talking raven named Malik.
Malith	5	2.5	7.5	·         Married to Meepo the goblin. ·         Carries an oversized demonic bastard sword.
River	5	2.5	8.5	Wanted for killing a human king.
Runt	6	2.5	8.5	·         An ogre of renown: 50% chance of +1 Charisma due to people having heard of his exploits in freeing the merchants from the clutches of their ogre jailors. ·         Head appears as a flaming skull
Sluff	5	2.5	7.5	Chieftain of the goblin Tribe of the Withered Arm. Has a withered arm (possibly human) as a token of his office.