The Mythic World of Urd: Bugbears with Boomsticks!

** The Mythic World of Urd Campaign Page **

The following is from the Arcane Alienist himself, summarized in our private social media debriefing chambers.  You can listen to the vox-recording of the Alienist's analyzation of the sessions' misfortunes right here...

After rest and resupplying and the dwarven mine, the party is left with the choice of returning to the keep (and likely having to fight their way past a horde of gnolls) or returning to the unexplored caves in search of the bugbears and gunpowder.

Celestina is able to take a look at the night sky and perform some astrological calculations that indicate the keep is indeed under siege, but the way to the bugbear lair is clear. The party elects to raid the bugbears while they can. Doncha, feeling the siege to be a more pressing matter, takes his leave.

The party reaches the entrance to the bugbear lair to find a crude arch and doorway has been installed in the cave mouth. It is not locked, allowing them to enter quietly. Jessup and Hagle scout down the first corridor and discover three bugbears posted in a dimly lit room. The rest of the party advances but the bugbears hear them coming.

A fight erupts in the corridor, including gunfire, which draws a large mob of more bugbears from somewhere deeper in the cavern. However, the party prevails largely unscathed. One bugbear manages to flee and avoid death for the moment. Before anyone can give chase, Jessup hears calls for help in the opposite directions and notices a set of keys hanging on the wall.

Searching around, the clerics Hedemar and Volker find two cells of prisoners, whom they promptly free. Among them are a pair of merchants and their two guards, a human warrior, three kobold from Hagle’s tribe, four orcs (the last remaining survivors of the Yellow Tusk tribe that were slaughtered and reanimated by the necromancer Viktora Ash), a huge bugbear, a female dwarf, and a male elf.

The bugbear is Huggz, the former leader of the bugbears. He has been deposed by the troll, Ilezal, sent by the Troll King in the wake of the goblins’ and hobgoblins’ defeat. Huggz is angry at being made to share the blame with the leaders of the other groups, stating the bugbears did their jobs effectively. He wants to kill the troll and the bugbears who didn’t stand with him.

The dwarf is Inghilde Irongrit, the sister of the slain patron of the dwarves. She stayed behind with her brother to cover their clan’s escape when the mine was attacked by the bugbears and was captured. Huggz killed her brother, but she begrudgingly agrees to a truce to help the party deal with Ilezal and remaining bugbears.

The elf is Jadai, a wandering aesthetic who was captured while traveling through the forest. He, along with the  humans, kobolds, and orcs also want to help and agree to fight, although the two merchants can only serve as torchbearers. The large group follows Huggz as he leads them to his former chambers, where he assumes they’ll find the troll.

They come upon the passage leading to their destination to find it lined with a maze of gunpowder barrels. As the group begins to carefully negotiate the obstacles, a group of bugbears emerge from hiding farther up the passage and begin shooting with arquebuses. But they aren’t shooting at people; they’re shooting at the barrels!

One bugbear manages an accurate shot and two gunpowder barrels explode, killing three of the orcs and one of the human guards. The three kobolds flee back to the entrance and abandon their new comrades. The rest of the group are able to make it through barrels and reach the bugbears before any others can be detonated. 

The bugbears had concealed themselves in an alcove with a door. As the melee begins, the door opens to reveal a female bugbear - Kizzes, the former mate of Huggz. Behind her is the troll, Ilezal. She fires her arquebus at the nearest target, killing the second human guard and Ilezal begins chanting a spell. A few seconds later, he engulfed the entire alcove with a fireball. 

When the conflagration ends, only Jessup, Roderick, and Harald remain standing, along with Inghilde, Huggz, and the sole surviving orc. Inghilde continues to battle with the last bugbear in the alcove while Huggz and the orc (Duluk) join Harland in an attempt to fight their way into the adjoining room. Huggz seems particularly enraged by the betrayal of his mate, Kizzes. 

Roderick is able to apply magical healing to Hagle and Jadai, but only enough to keep them from bleeding out, not get them conscious. He then heals himself to get back in the fight. Jessup tends to Hedemar and Volker with healing draughts and gets them back on their feet to attend to the other wounded. Inghilde kills the last bugbear.

With an evil laugh, Ilezal casts another spell, creating two duplicate images of himself that make it unclear which is the real troll. The group finally fight past Kizzes and into the room. Each strike against an image causes it to disappear, at last leaving the real Ilezal revealed, but not before he can attack Roderick one last time. Surrounded, he attempts to turn invisible abs flee, but he is not fast enough as Harald and Roderick cut him down.

Huggz says he’ll make a bargain with the group for valuable information if they make him an offer. His tone telegraphs that fed up enough to accept a pittance that will allow him to divulge some secrets. For a gold piece he tells them they are welcome to all of the bugbears’ loot, stored across the corridor and he shows them a secret passage to where they stashed all the gunpowder. He doesn’t know if it’s still there. He then departs.

The merchants and the orc, Duluk, decide to accompany Inghilde back to the mine and to hold the loot for the party until they can claim it, leaving the party to heal its wounds and decide their next move.

The Mythic World of Urd: Gnolls Behind the Knoll

** The Mythic World of Urd Campaign Page **

The following is from the Arcane Alienist's personal session notes, shared here from our private social media.  You can listen to the Alienist himself wax lyrical on the session right here on the Arcane Alienist Podcast!

The party emerges from the owlbear’s den to find their horses skittish and spooked. Fortunately this is warning enough that they are not surprised when two groups of gnolls sping up from hiding on either side of them and close to attack. To the south, four gnolls have a clear path to the party; to the north, four more gnolls are blocked by party’s gathered mounts.

The first group of gnolls closes in amid a volley of gunfire and sling stones. Doncha, Roderick, and Dolly advance and face them in melee combat, along with Hagle.

The second group of gnolls set upon the horses, who begin to panic. Three horses bolt. Jessup and Dominique are able to reach their mounts and move to round up the fleeing animals. Celestina moves to mount her horse, but a gnoll kills it. She backs up and finds Roderick’s warhorse instead. Hedemar and Volker also reach their horses.

Harland mounts his giant lizard and charges into the second gnolls amid the scattering horses. He blasts a trio of them with his blunderbuss while his lizard lashes out at the fourth one. The gnolls move to surround Harald, but Hedemar spurs his horse into them forcing them back a step and giving Harald time to reload and blast them again with his blunderbuss. 

Meanwhile, Volker circles around behind the first group of gnolls and charges in to aid Doncha, Dolly, and Roderick. One gnoll flees and the others soon fall. 

The second group of gnolls once again surround Harald. His lizard gives as good as it gets, but soon goes down with grievous wounds. The gnolls then fall on Harald. Hedemar kills one with a blow from his mace and Hagle is able to take another down with a stone from his sling. Celestina puts the remaining two to sleep with a spell and the others finish them off.

While administering their last bit of healing to Harald and his mount, the party hears the sounds of more gnolls barking, yipping, and snarling in the distance in nearly every direction. It appears that a large force is sweeping through the forest. The party makes for the dwarven sulfur mine, the closest place of possible refuge.

At the mine, they find Hagle’s tribe of kobolds camped out near the entrance. This is where they fled to when bugbears drove them out of the abandoned goblin caves. The dwarves have permitted them to set up camp but not to enter. When the party informed everyone of the approaching gnoll horde, the dwarves welcome them in and then begrudgingly let the kobolds enter as well as they seal up the entrance to wait things out.

The party is able to rest, tend wounds, and even replace lost armor and reopen ammunition. But the dwarves report from their spy holes that the gnolls appear to be moving southward - in the direction of the Trade Keep!

The Mythic World of Urd: The Owlbear's Den

** The Mythic World of Urd Campaign Page **

The following is from the Arcane Alienist's Dungeon Master session notes for the ongoing campaign in his homebrew setting!  This summary was posted in our private social media.  You can listen to the Alienist himself give an after-action report right here on the Arcane Alienist Podcast!

The party finds itself with three cave entrances to chose form, one that has been fashioned with a crude door.  They choose the closest one (sans door) and discovers the odor of rotting meat emanates from within. Just past the entrance, the cave splits to the left and right.

Hagle the kobold is sent to scout ahead down the right passageway. He finds a chamber with a pool of water in the center. He calls for the others to follow but is immediately attacked by a gray ooze that drops from the ceiling above. Fortunately, it missed and lands on the ground beside him.

Jessup, Celestina, and Dominique scout the other passsge way and encounter a nest of giant rats. The rats are not hostile and one steps forward to sniff the air but does nothing else.

The rest of the party catches up to Hagle in time to help him get away from the ooze, but another emerges from the water and attacks him as well, while a third is spotted on the ceiling above. Roderick hits it with a spear, which lodges in its mass and begins to dissolve. The ooze then drops on to Hedemar.

Harald's Secrets of the Ooze, Lesson #1: Do NOT walk under ooze.  It is just waiting for you...

Hedemar and Hagle are dropped, dying as the oozes dissolved their armor and then their flesh. With a combination of arrows, bombs, and gunfire, the rest of the group are able to kill the oozes and save their fallen allies.

At the sound of gunpowder being set off, the rats scurry back from Jessup and Celestina and into their nest, but a loud roar echoes from further down  the corridor. They head back towards the entrance to rejoin the others as some something large comes barreling towards them. 

As the rejoin the party, an owlbear emerges from the dark of the cave. Jessup hurls a flask of burning oil at it but it’s not enough to stop it and the owlbear falls on him and mortally wounds him. The rest of the party turns to fight the owlbear and after a couple wounds, it flees back where it came from. The clerics are able to heal Jessup’s wounds as the others pursue the owlbear.

Celestina uses her wand of paralyzation to stop the monster, but catches Roderick and Harald in the beam. The others finish off the owlbear and search the rest of the cave while they wait on the magic effects to wear off of their friends.

They recover a valuable owlbear egg, a heap of coins, a magical mace, and a protection scroll from the owlbear’s nest. They also find a jewel encrusted goblet in the shallow pool. Battered and with two party members left without armor, they decide to head back to the trade keep and regroup.

The Mythic World of Urd: No Kobolds Here

** The Mythic World's Campaign Page **

The following is taken from the Arcane Alienist's very own notes, posted in our private social media.  You can also check out his podcast here and listen to a recap of this very incident!

The party are joined by a new recruit, a fighter named Doncha, and set out to find the entrance to the kobolds’ underworld lair and rescue their hostage queen.

Roderick’s kobold retainer, Hegle, cannot recall the exact location and suggests they confer with his tribe, who has temporarily taken up residence in the caves one occupied by the goblins and hobgoblins.

The conversation takes a more serious tone when the bugbears aren't interested in answering Dolly's polite questions.

The party arrives to find the caves abandoned with numerous kobold tracks leading north towards the dwarven mine. Bieber there ar larger (larger than human) footprints leading into the caves. The party investigated and at ambushed by three bugbears. They kill two and the last surrenders.

When you don't speak the local jargon.

In exchange for its freedom, the bugbear agrees to answer their questions. He tells them that all the goblinkind in the forest were sent by the Troll King as mercenaries. Neither they nor their patron have any vested interest here. Someone (presumably the cult that holds the kobold queen) made a deal for their services. The bugbears are the only ones left and the Troll King has sent a special envoy to make sure they compete their end of the mission. 

The bugbear also tells them the location where it’s kind are hold up and where they took all the gunpowder the hobgoblins manufactured. The party then heads to that location to confront the bugbears and hopefully secure the gunpowder.

The Mythic World of Urd: Ghouls, Ghouls, Ghouls!

The following is none other than the Arcane Alienists' post-session summary from our private social media group.  This esotericist has lots of great ideas about roleplaying games in general, and has been hard at work turning out episodes of his podcast, titled (aptly) The Arcane Alienist!! Check out the podcast here on Anchor.FM!

** Mythic World of Urd Campaign Page **

The party returns to the castle after executing the necromancer Viktora Ash. They bring the stone head of the orc chieftain to the wizard Olivere who informs them that if they had the rest of the petrified body he might be able to restore the orc to life. 

Harald suggests that this might go a long way towards keeping peace with the local orcs and getting information about what the necromancer has been up to. Roderick and Harald also suspect that the gunpowder was being manufactured for an assault on the keep, perhaps even to blow it up from within or below.

Moved to the OSE engine on Fantasy Grounds!  Love that graph-paper chic!

The party decided to return to the necromancer’s lair to retrieve the rest of the “statue” and also clear out the ghouls that remain there. Hagle is sent into the cave to scout and reports that after a short tunnel it opens into a wide chamber. There is a green glow coming from somewhere at the back.

The party cautiously makes its way into the cave. Suddenly they hear growling and movement in the darkness around them. Three ghouls come at the front different directions along with a pair of zombies (all are orc corpses). From the side chamber emitting the green glow, a ghast also emerges and sets upon Hedemar’s retainer, Volker. Volker falls dying.

Hedemar is able to turn the two zombies and the rest of the party slays the ghouls, but the ghast proves to be a bigger challenge. It is able to resist all attempts at turning by both Hedemar and Roderick. Fortunately everyone it attacks also manages to resist its paralyzing effects. It is finally slain by Dolly and Dominique.

The turned zombies had fled towards the green glow. The party catches up to them and kills them. The glow is coming from a crude alter marked with Chaos runes and set with a large jade gemstone. The party destroys the altar. Copper and electrum coins are scattered about the room along with a sword that turns out to be magical. Dolly claims the sword as a new weapon.

Filthy Harald patiently awaits a clear line-of-sight...

The party then obtains the headless statue and takes it back to Olivere, who tells them they can expect an audience with the Castellan to be forthcoming.

The next day, they are invited to a luncheon at the Castellan’s manor within the inner walls of the castle. The room is decorated in the maroon and gold colors of the Castellan’s banners and her family crest bearing a chestnut tree. They are first greeted by the elf, Maravek, who is the Castellan chief advisor. Maravek then introduced them to the Castellan herself, Lady Diomira Kastenienbraun. 

Lady Diomira asks them to recount their exploits thus far. They do so and also share their concerns about an attack on the castle itself. She tells them that her soldiers will be rescuring the tradeway and that she’ll look into any places where gunpowder could be smiled into or below the castle.

She would like to retain them for the time being to track down the final destination of all the gunpowder the goblins had manufactured. She also wants them to help the kobolds find their queen so they can return back to the underworld. 

Roderick suggests that they might make good trading partners and prompts Hagle to tell them what his tribe can trade with. He reports that the only other thing they had been doing besides mining sulfur was collecting guano from a cave in the forest. He also admits that he is not sure he can find the exact location of the passage back to the kobold’s home. They had never come to the service before and were herded out into the forest under duress and marched to the sulfur mine. Others of his tribe might remember more details.

The party departs the luncheon on the Castellan’s payroll and with two objectives. It seems they will be once again heading into the forest/ and caves to the north.

The Mythic World of Urd: Necromancy and Undead Orcs

The following is from GameDoc's session notes, which are posted in our private social media.  You can listen as the Arcane Alienist describes the diplomacy style of his player characters...

** The Mythic World of Urd Campaign Hub **

THE BANDIT’S LAIR

(AKA “Necromancy and Undead Orcs”)

Having killed most of the mercenary bandits and captured the few survivors and camp followers, the party decides to lay an ambush for the bandit captain, Serne Raxor. In exchange for clemency, two captured bandits agree to draw the captain out of his chambers, assuming he is there.

The bandits knock on the door, yelling about intruders in the cave complex and calling for Raxor to come help. Meanwhile, the party waits around the corner of the darkened corridor. Raxor’s lieutenant, Lirrit, answers the door and questions the two bandits before emerging into the corridor with another bandit.

Dolly approaches, greeting Lirrit and explaining that there’s been a misunderstanding. She is searching for a lost friend that she thought may have wandered into the cave. Raxor appears in the doorway, armed for battle, including a finely wrought shield. He is suspicious and although Dolly is emphatic in her bluff, he orders her killed.

However, the distraction is enough to let the rest of the party take them by surprise. Harald is able to shoot the bandit captain with an arrow. The party easily defeats Lirrit and the other guard, but Raxor doesn’t go down so easily. He drops Dolly with a blow from his axe, but Roderick is able to heal her before it’s too late. Harald plants two more arrows in him before he finally surrenders. Celestina indicates that his shelf is magical and Dolly claims it. 

"Nothing wrong with shooting - as long as the RIGHT people get shot." - Filthy Harald

When questioned, Serne Raxor reveals that he was hired out of the Northern Kingdoms by a woman named Viktora Ash. She is some sort of dark priest or necromancer, and is responsible for the ghouls that the bandits work alongside. Their mission is to raid along the tradeway. His only dealings with the goblins was to hand over any captives taken. He doesn’t know what kind of deal Viktora Ash made with them otherwise. 

Raxor will lead them to her to avoid the hangman’s noose. He then reveals a secret door leading to a hidden chamber where he meets with her from time to time. There is a second secret door on the other side of the room, but he has never gone past this room. He tells them that she stays somewhere in the caves beyond. 

The party ventures through a passage and comes to a door. There is no discernible sound from the other side. Dolly kicks the door open and is confronted by two undead warriors - the animated corpses of yet more orcs Further into the room, Dolly sees a cloaked figure emerge and begin to chant a spell. 

Dolly, Roderick, and the retainer Dominique briefly battle with the undead in attempt to breach the doorway before Hedemar is able to turn them with his holy symbol. The warriors cut down the stunned undead. The cloaked figure unleashes a spell obscuring the doorway in darkness. 

Roderick and Harald rush into the darkness and Harald finds his way through and comes face to face with Viktora Ash. The amulet hanging from her neck bears an  unholy symbol of Chaos. In the meantime, Dolly lobs a bomb into the room, hoping to hit their foe, but overshoots and the bomb explodes without harming anyone. 

Harald jabs Viktora Ash in the shoulder with the spike of his halberd and in return she places her palm on his arm and drains away a sliver of his life force with an unholy spell. He overbrears her and pins her to the floor as Roderick emerges from the darkness and piles on.

The party interrogates the evil priestess. She confesses that her cult slaughtered a local band of orcs to use their corpses to create undead and  She doesn’t know what was promised to the Troll King by her superiors, only that the goblins were to clear the forest and manufacture gunpowder. When asked about the kobold’s queen, she replies that she was taken back to the kobold’s original lair for safekeeping. When asked what her ultimate goals are, she only replies “Chaos!”

Searching the room, the party discovers a magical rope of climbing, which Jessup (the thief) stows in his pack, a page apparently torn from a book on the history of the region, and a stone head that appears to have been broken from a statue. The head is that of an orc and the details are uncannily realistic. Harald conjectures that it must have been a monument to some great orcish hero, to which Viktora Ash laughs aloud and says “He was brave to end, for sure. Didn’t even cower when the time came.”

Suddenly, the kobold retainer Hagle gasps “The queen!” Revealing that the kobold’s queen can turn people to stone. The party agrees that they need to find the queen as quickly as possible, but Viktora Ash taunts them again, asking if they think they can rescue her before everyone the humans hold dear “explodes”. It seems they also need to figure out what the bugbears did with all that gunpowder. 

Viktora will tell them no more and seems willing to die rather than let anything else slip. The party briefly searched the remains caverns, finding and destroying several more undead orcs before heading back to the castle with their sole prisoner (Raxor and the remaining bandits having ran off), who will presumably be hanged for both banditry and heresy.

Upon examining the torn page, Dolly sees that it tells of the deaths of Zelligar the Unknown and Rhaegan the Fearless along with their companions in the collapse of the tower while confronting the orc warlord Azhug III centuries ago. She notes that Roderick’s ancestor and namesake was among the heroes to fall that day. The page also makes a passing reference to Rhaegan and Zelligar’s secret base of operations - Quasqueton - thought to be hidden somewhere in the area

The Mythic World of Urd: "Orc" Hunting

The following comes from GameDoc's session notes on our private social media.  You can also check out another recap of the game at the Arcane Alienists' Podcast, where he goes into much more detail...

** The Mythic World of Urd Campaign Page **

After their battle with ghouls made from dead orcs and human bandits disguised as live orcs, the party returns to the dwarves' mine to rest and reclaim their mounts. The next morning they set out to track the “orcs.” The trail leads them to another cave in the forest.

The entrance is decorated with a row of skulls and severed heads mounted on a ledge above. As they scout the vicinity, Roderick discovers another cave obscured by the undergrowth of the forest. It emanates the stench of rotten flesh and a grave chill not unlike that of the ghouls encountered the day before. Roderick’s clerical attunement also senses the presence of chaos. He retreads back to the others.

Meanwhile, Dolly senses a brief movement from one of the mounted heads and moves forward to get a closer look, but it remains still. At last she hurls a stone at it to which it cries out in pain  and falls back into a small opening that had been unseen behind it until then. 

But before anyone else can react, a trio of orcish ghouls emerge from the second cave. Everyone is able to react with ranged attacks before the ghouls can reach them and Roderick then calls upon the power or Saint Cyrus to turn them. The ghouls retreat back into their cave. 

Dolly moves back to inspect the place where the severed head had moved. Seeing nothing there, she lights a poster bomb and tosses it up into the hole. A few seconds later all can hear the explosion from within. Dolly climbs up and through the opening while everyone else enters the skull-lined entrance.

Dolly finds herself in a small alcove where there is gray curtain, a dead human, and a charred, shattered stool, both the handiwork of her bomb. The human had painted his face to resemble an orc so that he could sit on the stool and rest his chin on the ledge with the stone-colored curtain behind him so as to appear to be a severed head perched on the ledge and keep a lookout. 

Beyond the alcove is a large cavern set up as a crudely furnished dining hall. A passageway exits to the east, seemingly in the direction of the cave entrance. To the west is a pair of large curtains covering another set of exits. Dolly peeks behind one and sees several bandits readying weapons. There are about 20 or so camp followers and children as well. She backs into the dining hall and crouches behind a table.

Meanwhile the others are immediately confronted just inside the cave entrance by four human bandits. They quickly kill two and capture the others, but not before the alarm is raised. Harald looks back to see the dining hall and Dolly waiting there as more bandits emerge from behind the curtains. The party converges on the dining hall as yet another group of bandits appears from somewhere deeper in the cave complex.

Despite being surrounded, the party holds their own. Roderick falls to a bandit's sword, but his kobold retainer, Hagle, quickly applies a healing potion and the revived Roderick rejoins the fight. All but two of the bandits are killed. The captives (now numbering four) explain that their mercenary company was hire to raid along the tradeway disguised as orcs.

Their ghoul allies remain in the nearby cave until called on to joint raiding parties. They don’t know where the ghouls came from. They were already here when the bandits arrived to set up camp. The ghouls have helped ensure there were few survivors and that the attacks were so quick that those who escaped had little time to realize their attackers aren’t actually orcs. 

When asked about the kobold’s queen, the bandits know nothing. The bandits suggest their captain knows all the details of who hired them and what other plans may be afoot. They agree to help lure their captain out of his quarters if he’s there. It seems he has some means of coming and going from the cave complex undetected when he wants to.

Training Day

The following is from GameDoc's session notes from our private social media.  It got pretty tense last time, but we're in the saddle again without so much touch-and-go.  And by saddle, I mean a 'big' saddle on a BIG lizard.

You can even listen to his recap over on the Arcane Alienist Podcast, right this very minute!

** The Mythic World of Urd Campaign Page **

Training Day

After the party’s defeat of the goblins and hobgoblins, the kobolds agree to leave the dwarves’ mine and relocate to the caves previously occupied by the goblins until their queen is located. Hagle, the sole surviving kobold that accompanied the party in their fight with the goblins, elects to stay with the group as Roderick’s retainer.

Returning to the Keep and the Canopies, the party is greeted as heroes. They take a week of rest so that Celestina can research a new spell under the guidance of the archwizard Olivaire and Harald can attempt to tame the captured tuatara as a mount. Both are successful in their endeavors. Meanwhile, the rest of the group secured their own (normal) mounts - horses for the humans and ponies for Dolly and Hagle. 

"Guns."

The party has amassed too much coinage to carry around. The clerics are granted the privilege of storing their gold and spare equipment at the chapel. The others elect to use the guildhall bank, except for the ever suspicious Jessup, who converts his coins to gems to keep with him at all times.

At the end of the week, the grateful dwarves host a feast to honor the party with strong ale, heaps of food, and raucous music. They all want to dance with Dolly. Marevek, tue castellan’s advisor is also present. He offers condolences for the loss of Dewey and Urgash, and offers the party a new mission.

Several days ago, the castellan sent a group of scouts up the road in preparation for a march on the orcs, but none returned. A few of their horses wandered back to the keep a couple of days later. He would like to employ the party to investigate.

The next day, the party sets out to the dwarves’ mine and leaves their mounts for safekeeping. They then proceeded to the spot on the tradeway where the orc attacks have occurred. Coming to a stretch of road lined with boulders and low bluffs on either side, Hedemar and Roderick cautiously move forward while the rest of the group splits up and scales the bluff on either side.

To the west, Dolly, Jessup, and Harald encounter six orc archers laying in wait and preparing to shoot at Hedemar and Roderick below. To the east, Celestina and two of the retainers find no orcs but can see what is about to unfold.

As the eastern group opens fire at the orcs, two more feral orcs rush from hiding at the roadside and attack Hedemar. Hedemar realizes these are ghouls and unsuccessfully attempts to turn them. They fall upon him and one manages to scrape him with a claw, leaving him paralyzed.

Dolly closes in for close combat while the rest of the eastern located group support her with ranged attacks. They make easy work of the orcs. The other group descends to the road to aid Hedemar and Roderick. Celestina managed to paralyze one ghoul with a wand, but the other resists and turns on her, paralyzing her with a bite. Her retainer, Dominique, is also paralyzed. 

The rest of the party joins in and manages to kill the ghouls before anyone else succumbs. The ghouls turn out to be undead orcs. Celestina reports that ghouls are dead bodies possessed by a demon, much like gnolls are possessed, mutated animals. Chaos rears its head once again. 

The other ambushers turn out to be human bandits who have divided themselves as orcs using orcish war masks and face paint. This revelation leaves the party wondering what exactly is going on.

The Mythic World of Urd: Hobnobbing with Hobgoblins

** The Mythic World of Urd Campaign Page **

The following is GameDoc's session notes, posted in our private social media.  You can listen to this session's rundown on the Arcane Alienist as well!

HOBNOBBING WITH HOBGOBLINS

We find the party where the last session ended, in a room full of discarded armor and weapons apparently taken from the various foresters and merchants the goblinoids have killed or captured. They have also located a secret passage that the fleeing hobgoblins must have used to escape. 

Dolly notices a dwarf-sized suit of plate armor and quickly dons it, and then the party proceeds down the passage with their kobold allies bribing up the rear. At the end of the passage is another concealed door, but it’s location is easy to deduce.

Harald and Roderick kick the door open to find a room full of hobgoblins, already on alert. The hobgoblins crowd the doorway and form ranks, as do the warriors and clerics of the party. Harald is mortally wounded, but Hedemar is able to get off a healing spell to revive him and get him back into the fight.

After a few exchanges of melee, two hobgoblins are killed and others begin to lose morale and flee. The party takes the room. There are two doors on the north end. Roderick spreads lamp oil on the floor in front of them and the party waits for the hobgoblins to respond as the kobolds crowd in to help.

One door opens to reveal four hobgoblin archers. Their volley kills two kobolds but fails to harm any of the party members. Two of the other kobolds abandon the group and flee back the way the party came. The party returns fire but the hobgoblins remain. The second door opens and two more hobgoblins appear. Both groups of hobgoblins draw swords and advance towards the party merging into a single unit. Hedemar ignites the oil and all six hobgoblins die a fiery death. 

However, three more hobgoblins appear in the second doorway, two archers and a spellcaster standing behind them who begins an incantation. Celestina begins to cast her sleep spell. Hedemar takes down one archer with a sling, clearing up Durgash to fire  a pistol at the spellcaster. The spellcaster survives, but her spell is disrupted. Celestina’s spell goes off and the remaining hobgoblins fall asleep. The last remaining kobold, Hagle, rushes in a coup-de-gras the sleeping hobgoblins.

The party advances to the next room to find only two hobgoblins remain. One of them is Bhyth, the captain of the goblinoid warband. He surrenders and is persuaded to lead the party safely back outside. He is also compelled to explain what the goblins are doing. He reiterated that they are effectively mercenaries and we’re deployed by their archfey patron, the Troll King. The will of the Troll King is communicated to the hobgoblin’s seer, the spellcaster that now lies dead.

The goblinoids were to run the humans, dwarves, and the like out of the area and press the kobolds and any prisoners they obtained into service in the sulfur mine or burning charcoal. The kobolds also gather guano from another cave in the area. It’s clear now that the goblinoids are manufacturing gunpowder. As to the kobold queen, she is not here. Byth suggests they check with the orcs plaguing the tradeway, as there is an active exchange of prisoners between them and the goblinoids.

Bhyth takes them down a side passage where they encounter another hobgoblin, standing guard to the entrance of a side chamber. Behind him on the wall has been painted an image of a fire with a large “X” over it. A goblin is heard yelling from the room for whomever is out there to douse their torches. This is the goblin “booyahg” (sorcerer), Gnurk. Gnurk comes out to investigate and managed to fire off a magic missile spell before Bhyth can order him to stand down. 

The party takes Gnurk into custody as well. In the room, they discover three barrels of gunpowder and several of the individual ingredients- guano (being manufactured into saltpeter), charcoal, and sulphur. Byth tells them that they make the powder, but the bugbears collect it and take it elsewhere for storage.

Future down true passage they re-enter the goblins’ area of the caves. Bhyth reveals there are probably 20 or so goblins still about. They encounter and capture four more goblins. With an ever growing number of prisoners, they party binds them all together, chain gang style. 

Byth calls ahead “Bree-yark! Bree-yark!” and explains that it’s the goblin call to surrender. Harald suspects he’s lying. As they round a corner, Durgash spots a group of goblin archers lying in wait beyond what the humans can see in the darkened caves. Bhyth again orders the to surrender, but is met with mocking laughter.

A burly goblin emerges from the darkness. This is Ihazz, the boss goblin. She finds it amusing that Bhyth got himself captured. However, when Harald demands the goblins surrender, she agrees and motions for one of the goblins to drop its bow and move forward. This proves to be a ruse as she orders the others to shoot while their ally has the party’s attention. Durgash is mortally wounded by goblin arrows, but the party has expanded its healing resources and he dies.

As Ihazz and the goblins close in for melee, Bhyth and the other captives begin attempting to free themselves. The party retainers close in on Bhyth and eventually force him to surrender agains. Roderick and Hagle the kobold kill the remaining hobgoblins several goblins before they can escape. Dolly, Harald, and Hedemar engage the goblins and soon rout them, killing some and causing others to flee.

In a last ditch effort to save himself, Byth reveals they still have human prisoners and will lead the party to them. He takes them to one final chamber, deep in the cave complex. Inside are two hobgoblins who immediately surrender. There are five human captives, a merchant couple captured on the road, along with their two guards, and a captured forester. There is also a gnoll in a cage. Hedemar explains that gnolls are basically mutated animals possessed by a demon. Harald executes the gnoll with his firearms and turns to kill the hobgoblins.

There have already been disagreements as to disposition of the prisoners, but now it turns heated. Harald wants to execute the three hobgoblins for their crimes. The clerics, Hedamar and Roderick, argue that they’re defenseless and defeated and that killing them now crosses the line. Harald views this as a military operation, citing everyone’s willingness to kill indiscriminately up to this point, but the others disagree. Harald threatens to shoot Roderick if he doesn't get out of the way. 

Celestina suggests allowing the kobold, Hagle, to decide their fates since of all present, his people have been the most aggrieved. Everyone agrees to this and Hagle condemns them to death, but asks Harald to perform the deed. Harald shoots the hobgoblins and storms off in anger at his comrades.

The Mythic World of Urd: Assault on the Goblin Lair

** The Mythic World of Urd Campaign Page **

The following was posted by GameDoc on our private social media.  Check out the Arcane Alienist Podcast and listen to the session here!

Assault on the Goblin Lair

As the party retreats into the forest to regroup, the come across a small band of kobolds kicking and stabbing at a dead bugbear – the bugbear they had driven off only a few moments earlier. The kobolds explain that they were out foraging when they heard the bugbear crashing through the forest, so they hid and ambushed it. After some discussion, they agree to meet the part back at the same spot the next day and try and help them get into the goblins’ lair.

Settling in back at the Canopies, the various retainers discover that all the weapons they’ve taken from goblinoids are made of bronze, not steel. This leads to the realization that as fey-descended creatures, they cannot abide the touch of iron. 

The next day, the kobolds are there as promised. They party again approaches the upper entrance to the lair while the kobolds distract the goblins guarding the lower entrance. The kobolds wind up picking off the goblins with slings while the party is able to overcome the hobgoblins guarding the upper entrance. The kobolds agree to bring up the rear as they party explores the caves within.

When in doubt, just run at 'em.  They never expect you to just run at 'em.

Forging ahead, they discover a dining hall where several hobgoblins oversee a large brood of juvenile goblins. The hobgoblins move to attack and all but two are slain. It seems the party has learned how to better use positioning and coordinated attacks! The two survivors are concerned for their young and agree to a binding pact that if they can leave with the juveniles unharmed, they will make no attempts to harm any of the party again. They explain that the curse of the Troll King befalls any who violate such a pact. 

The retainer pool consists mostly of kobolds.

Doubling back, the party discovers a guard post and again combat quickly turns in their favor. One hobgoblin loses its nerve and surrenders, but the kobolds, seeking revenge for their enslavement, fall on it and kill it anyway. Roderick chastises them, much to their confusion. Two more guards surrender an offer to tell the party how to find their captain’s hidden chambers but are also clearly stalling and speaking a little too loudly. A second wave of guards appears but seeing they are outnumbered, retreat. The party follows them into the next room to find an armory of steel armor and weapons, unusable by the goblins, but no hobgoblins at all. Dolly and Hedegar also locate a hidden door and a secret passage the hobgoblins must have used to escape. 

Secret doors lead to secret prizes.

What lies beyond the passage… riches and glory, or certain death?

The Mythic World of Urd: Retainers & Revenge

** The Mythic World of Urd Campaign Page **

The following is GameDoc's after-session notes from our private social media.  It is included here for posterity and ease of access.  You can also listen to this session's notes at the Arcane Alienist!

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Retainers & Revenge

On the return from the forest, the reduced caravan guard Dominique recounts how her group was ambushed by orcs. She notes that they sprang silently from out of nowhere and reeked of death. She was unconscious before she knew it and awoke blindfolded and bound as her captors seemed to negotiate with some hobgoblins before roughly handing her over.

The heroes rerun to the keep and split up. Celestina, Khaine, and Jessup head into the keep to deliver the carcass of the tarantella spider to the wizard Olivair. He agrees to harvest its venom in exchange for half the yield. It will take a couple of days.

Outside the wizard’s tower, they’re met by a dwarf who asks about their progress in the mines. Khaine explains how they left things with the kobolds. The dwarf seems unsatisfied with the news and darts off to report in to Horrik, the leader of his clan.

They then visit the chapel where Khaine inquires about more access to healing magic. The curate tells him to either recruit more clerics into the party or find an alchemist or herbalist who can make potions. The curate can also pen scrolls, but it’s a lengthy and expensive endeavor.

In the Canopies, the rest of the party heads to the tavern to carouse with the locals. Harald beings talking up the warrior types, mostly unemployed mercenaries and caravan guards. He learns they’re none to happy with the castellan for not only closing down the tradeway, but insisting his own soldiers will handle the orcs rather than hire any of them. They mention a traveling priest who has come into camp who feels the same way.

Khaine makes a point to take in this priests next sermon at the shrine in the center of the encampment. The priest, Hedemar, is a cleric of St. Arnhilde the Liberator. Hes a firebrand who calls out the castellan and the merchants of the keep for imposing their will on the free people of the Hinterlands. He travels with two acolytes who have taken vows of silence - Volker and Thilo.

After some discussion, Khaine discovers that Hedemar is concerned about the orc situation. Hedemar points out that the orcs have long been peaceful neighbors and there most be something more afoot. He agrees the join the party as Khaine’s retainer, bringing the acolytes along as hirelings.

In the meantime, Durgash takes on Jessup as a retainer and Celestina offers to take on Dominique as a retainer and bodyguard. She cashes in on the offer of access the the castellan’s armory to properly and and equip herself.

Tuatara wrangling.

After a day of rest, the reinforced party heads back into the woods towards the goblin’s cave. Along the way they encounter the giant tuatara lizard that nearly killed Harald earned his enmity. Harald decides to capture rather than kill it, and with some help form the others manages to hogtie it and put it in the cart.

The party then proceeds to the caves to find that the goblins and hobgoblins have prepared for future invaders. They have posted guards and erected barricades. Scouting ahead, Jessup discovers a second interest higher up on the ridge. The part elects to storm that entrance. As they depart they just manage to notice a bugbear scout and prevent it from raising the alarm.

The party assaults the the entrance. Harald is seriously wounded and falls in battle, but is healed by Roderick. Khaine is also felled by a hobgoblin but is too far removed from the group to be healed in time and dies. The party secured the entrance but finds themselves out of healing resources with wounds remaining. They elect to retreat into the woods and make camp and try again later.

The Saints of Mythic Urd

What follows is GameDoc's treatise on the Saints that have been encountered and described for his Mythic World setting.  The Mythic World has different standards for a lot of conventions, and they are cool and welcome spins on old tropes - but you don't have to take MY word for it!  You can listen to GameDoc himself tell you about the Saints and the nature of divine magic in the Mythic World right here!

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Arnhilde the Liberator

Saint Arnhilde is said to have been a champion of peasants and laborers in the north . She was martyred for speaking out against the abuse of power. Her iconography often utilizes broken chains or shackles.

• Stand for those who cannot stand for themselves.
• Power is a responsibility, not a privilege.
• Free the oppressed and oppose the tyrant.

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Cyrus the Bloodied

Saint Cyrus was military commander and a champion of law and order who was always vigilant against the threat of Chaos. His iconography incorporates a sword and warrior's helm.

• A firm hand is necessary to encourage faith and piety.
• Protect the faithful, from themselves if necessary.
• Cleanse the land of heresy.

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Dudimus the Abiding

Saint Dudimus was an aesthetic know for his patience and perseverance, but also his love of distilled spirits. He is said to have solved many mysteries by simple contemplation. His iconography often includes a a bottle or chalice. 

• Strive for balance in all situations and promote harmony in all facets of life.
• The truth will reveal itself in due time if you are patient. 
• Live simply and practically; take no more than you need.

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Iambulous the Charitable

Saint Iambulous was a philosopher who traveled much of the known world and lived among many different peoples, seeking the means of building a utopia. His iconography incorporates a compass. 

• Promote community spirit and mutual aid.
• Make peace wherever you go; resort to conflict is a final resort.
• Encourage those that have more to give to those that have less

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Leilani the Merciful

Saint Leilani was renown as a healer and as a lover of all living things. She offered kindness and aid even to those others would deem unworthy. Her iconography always incudes flowers. 

• Heal those who are ill or injured
• Spread the word of love; we are all brothers and sisters.
• Lift up the weak and make them strong.

Still Lookin' for Goblins...

** The Mythic World of Urd Campaign Page **

The following entries are taken from GameDoc's session logs on our private social media.  These logs recount the last two sessions we've had, as I've not been taking care of the blog lately due to having gotten married to my longtime partner this week. I'll try to catch up, get current and add some cool other materials some of you may find interesting in the coming weeks.  Until then, here's me thanking GameDoc for allowing me to post his records here on the site!

Still Lookin' For Goblins (07/02/21)

The party continues to pursue the fleeing goblin deeper into the cave complex. Rounding a corner, they encounter a closed door. On the other side, Durgash can hear voices muttering in the goblin language, apparently berating the goblin they’ve been chasing.

Khaine opens to door to find a room full of hobgoblins and quickly slams it shut again. On the other side, they can now be heard shouting orders to form ranks and draw arrows. Khaine knocks the handle off the door with his warhammer and inserts one prong of his grappling hook into the hole. He then pulls the the rope taught and back down the hall, holding the door shut despite the efforts of the hobgoblins to open it from the other side.

The warriors of the party position themselves on either side of the door. Khaine let’s the rope go slack and the door opens. A round of combat follows in which the hobgoblins loose their arrows before Khaine pulls the door shut again. All is calm for a moment until they hear the sound of an axe chopping on the other side of the door. 

Khaine again let’s the rope go slack. Roderick opens the door and attempts to wrest a hatchet away from a hobgoblin, but to no avail. The hobgoblins crowd the door so the party can enter and melee ensues. Both Durgash and Harald are seriously wounded, but the clerics are able to keep them alive.

Khaine managed to snag one of the hobgoblins with his grappling hook and prevent it from engaging in the fight. As hobgoblins being falling to the attacks of the party, some of them lose morale and flee to the back of the room. Ultimately, Khaine’s grappled one is the only hobgoblin left. The party decided to leave the caves with their prisoner.

Before returning to the castle, Harald interrogates the hobgoblin, threatening to hang him if he doesn’t give satisfactory answers. The hobgoblin is dodgy (as goblins tend to be) but informs them that his warband has not only a war captain, but a “booyagh” (goblin sorcerer) and a shaman that divines the will of the Troll King, the exiled archfey that goblins serve. He knows that someone (but not specifically who) has bargained with the Troll King to have this band of goblins clear the forest of humans, dwarves, and the like, and occupy it. He also knows the booyagh has some sort of lab where fire is forbidden. Harald surmised it may contain black powder from the dwarven mine.

Celestina suggests that they hand the hobgoblins over to the wizard Olivier to future aid in his studies of goblin magic. They return to the castle and hand him over to Olivier and then take their rest in the Canopies.

The next day, they receive an invitation to meet with a representative of the castellan. They arrive at the inn and are lead to a private dining hall where they meet the castellan’s chief advisor, Marevak, and aged and battle scarred elf. He inquires about their recent adventures. Since the castellan can spare no soldiers to help them, he offers access to the armory if they need additional armor or weapons and asks that they keep him updated as to what they discover. He will provide additional aid if he can think of anything else.

(Backdated) Pick a Cave, Any Cave (07/16/21)

WHERE ARE THE BUGBEARS?

Durgash and Harald decides that before setting out again, it’s time to buy some firearms. Although the party has been given access to the castellan’s armory, they are not allowed to requisition guns, powder, or explosives.

The party approaches the Irongrit dwarves that are staying in the inn. The dwarves inquire as to their progress on reclaiming their sulfur mine, and the party explains they think there’s a connection between the bugbears who overtook the mine and the goblin activity in the forest. The dwarves have only a limited supply of powder and firearms but sell what they can to Durgash and Harald and the party decides to investigate the mine next.

Rather than travel at length through the forest again, they he’s super the trade-way until they encounter a checkpoint manned by the castellan’s soldiers. They are warned that if they travel farther up the road, they will inevitably be set upon by orcs. Fortunately, from this point they can head into the forest and straight to the mine.

The Roadblock and the Goblin Caves...

After entering the forest, the party encounters a group of centaurs. The centaurs are from further west. Several days ago, a unicorn was spotted in their territory.  Their tribe’s elders took it as an omen of something important to come and instructed a small group of scouts to follow it and see where it led. It led them to this part of the forest, where they discovered the human inhabitants gone and goblins everywhere. 

The centaurs have fought and killed a number of goblins and hobgoblins and are preparing to return home and report wha they have learned. They offer to travel to the mine entrance with the party in case there are more goblins about, but surmise they are too big to actually enter the mine and be of any help. At the entrance to the mine, the party and the centaurs part ways with an agreement to help each other against the goblins in the future if needed.

Inside the mine, the party finds not bugbears, but kobolds. The kobolds are not hostile and engage in careful dialogue with their visitors before sending for their leader, a kobold named Who (Q: Who’s in charger here? A:Yes he is). 

"Who's in charge here?" Harald belted out with as much authority as he could muster.
   "Yes, he is." the kobolds replied.
"I said I want to talk to the Honcho.  Who's your Honcho?" Harald asked again, bemoaning the language barrier.
"Yes, do you know him?" the tiny creatures replied, half-timidly.

Kobolds are creatures of the underworld and they are not in the mine willingly. It seems that the goblin faction, along with a pack of gnolls, invaded their underworld lair and captured their queen, Ligeia. They kobolds are being forced to mine sulfur for the goblins to ensure the safety of their queen. They didn’t take part in driving out the dwarves. The mine was empty when they arrived. They mine sulfur and every few days a group of goblins or bugbears show up to collect a load.

"Yep.  Here's a good spot to watch."

The kobolds agree to not interfere with the party’s campaign against the goblins, but will not rebel or stop mining until they know their queen is safe. The party agrees to try and locate and free their queen.

The party camps out near the mine and sets a watch over the entrance, planning to ambush the next group of goblinoids that come to collect a load. Jessup is ordered to take a position during the ambush but refuses, reminding them that he’s been hired as a valet and nothing else. However he’s open to renegotiating his role and his salary when they get back to the keep.

Sung to the tune of "Rappin'".

After a day and a half, a group of bugbears shows up with two human captives pulling a cart. Harald lobs a bomb at them, but it has little effect on the brutes. However, Celestina is able to put them to sleep and the rest of the party performs a series of coup-de-grace. 

It's not that Harald was trying to kill the prisoners.  It's just that he thought they might die.

The two human captives turn out to be a forester and a former caravan guard. The guard, Dominik, was captured along the trade way during an orc ambush. He is willing to hire on as a henchman if they’ll give him a few days to recuperate and help him arm himself. The two freed captives explain that they were held by hobgoblins and then handed over to the bugbears for the day to haul sulfur back to the hobgoblin lair.

The party hauls the dead bugbears a distance away so that it will appear they never made it to the mine and the kobolds won’t be suspected of anything. They the head back towards the edge of the forest. Along the way they encounter a giant kind of spider called a tarantella. The spider does not appear hostile but Celestina deduces it has a magical nature, so the party elects to kill it and take it to the wizard Olivair to see if it can be harvested or traded for magical items. Fortunately, they quickly gain the upper hand on the creature and kill it.

As they reach the keep, severs questions remain to be answered:

• Where is Ligeia, the kobolds’ queen, being held?
• Where are the gnolls that aided in capturing her?
• How did a captive of an orc raid on a caravan wind up in the hands of the goblins?
• Do the bugbears have a separate lair from the hobgoblins and goblins?
• After spending so much time around sulfur the past two days, can everyone get the rotten egg smell out of their clothing?