This campaign is going to be very detailed and huge in scope. Tons of NPCs, factions, and bizarre stuff. So I hope you follow along and enjoy!
It begins in the heart of Glome- in Old Town, a heavily populated district with people and humanoids everywhere. The narrow streets are like canyons between the towering buildings. It is noisy, smelly, and crowded. The purple illumination from the world's Dead Star barely penetrates the smoke and pollution, though gas street lamps light the major thoroughfares. Every street in Old Town holds a new wonder - massive towers, gothic temples, guild headquarters, palaces with domes and spires, and theaters. Pollution and graffiti mar the weathered buildings, some of which are hundreds or even thousands of years old.
Old Town is the financial center of Glome as it houses major guilds, banks, trading markets, and several Imperial ministries. Money and power drive Old Town. The district also boasts a large Temple to the Lord of Light, the headquarters of the Ministry of Truth, and the Central Train Station.
Plastered on a brick wall among other advertisements is a flier for the Delver's Guild.
On the 7th of Monksday, five adventurers separately make their way through Old Town to the Dripping Tap, a large four-story inn on Cinder Street [DM's Note: The Dripping Tap is named after the excellent King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard song]. The common room is crowded with patrons raising mugs of foaming ale, playing cards, and gossiping. Music and laughter rings out. The adventurers are:
HAYABUSA the Wanderer- Mantid Fighter (Samurai)
PEREGRINE "HOB" KNOBGOBBLE the Shadow - Halfling Thief (Wizard's Apprentice)
HARLACK the Ox - Trull Fighter (Mercenary)
ZED the Magnificent - Human Magic-User (Illusionist)
BIG MAC the Rhymer - Halfling Thief (Bard)
The dwarven bartender, Bronk Morinstone, asks the characters if they'd like a drink. Everyone orders a pint of Gold Dragon Ale, except Zed asks for a water. Bronk mocks Zed, and Zed immediately takes a disliking to the bartender. Hob joins a game of cards and wins a few silver pieces. Harlack eventually asks Bronk where the Delver's Guild is meeting and he is pointed upstairs.
Soon everyone follows Harlack to a private meeting room on the second floor with a large fireplace and plush leather chairs. They are met by a stodgy middle-aged woman named Ronda, the Deputy Guildmaster. She asks everyone to sign the ledger book, the official Roster of Delvers, and to pay 1 gold piece for the first month dues. Some of the characters introduce themselves to one another.
Ronda checks her watch and then closes the door. In a droning voice, she says, “Alright, it’s half past the hour. Let’s get started. Welcome to Delver’s Guild. I’ll be conducting the New Apprentice orientation tonight. If you made it here and paid your dues, congratulations you are now a member of the Guild. Your official rank is Apprentice Delver. I’m giving you each an official License- indicating your membership. Since our Guildhall in Wormlock burned down last year, the Dripping Tap is our temporary headquarters . . ." [DM's Notes: Marge Simpsons' sisters - Patty and Selma- were my inspiration for Ronda and I used their voice].
Hob remembers reading about the Guildhall burning down in the latest issue of the Old Town Crier.
Ronda continues in her monotone voice: "The mission of the Delver’s Guild is to explore and plunder the ruins and dungeons below the city. As you may know, Glome is full of catacombs, caverns, and crypts beneath the streets. We collectively refer to this netherworld as the Underworld or the Dungeon. Some of these dungeons are connected, but most are separate. Including yourselves, we currently have 13 active rostered members with another 58 retired Delvers. Official casualties from last year were 189, a new record. Now I'll go over -"
She is interrupted by the door opening and a man in a grey linen shirt, brown vest and tie walks in. He has greying hair and a short mustache.
“Guildmaster Mobius, what are you doing here?”
“Oh Hi Ronda. Yeah, I just thought I’d pop in to meet the new recruits. Good looking crew we got here. You know what, I’ll take it from here. Go ahead and take the rest of the night off.”
“Are you sure Mobius? This is just a standard orientation.”
Mobius nods. “Yeah, I’m sure. I’d like to handle this one personally. I’ve got a good feeling about these recruits. These guys are special. I’ll see you later.”
The Ronda gives him a puzzled look and then leaves.
“Welcome to the Delver’s Guild! This is awesome. I’m Guildmaster Mobius, but you can just call me Mobius. We’ve had a few setbacks recently as you might have read about in the Crier. But thats all in the past. How was I supposed to know that the magic lamp had held a fire elemental and not a djinni? I mean, c’mon!
Anyway, things are looking up. Especially with you guys joining. We’re going to build a new guildhall. This is going to be amazing!” [DM's Notes: Yeah, I took Mobius from the Loki show. Owen Wilson is pretty fun to imitate and not very difficult].
Mobius then explained that they have a great new opportunity- a dungeon has opened up beneath the Perilous Pit tavern. The Sage Ultan the White believes it is the location of the Temporal Vaults of the Horned Sorceress.
"I know . . . that’s a mouthful. Temporal Vaults of the Horned Sorceress. Now I’ll be honest, I don’t know a whole lot about the Horned Sorceress. I was never very good at history. But basically she was some time-traveling Magic-User and she collected, or stole, slices of time from Eru-Lath’s history. That’s a little over my head, but maybe you can find someone who can give you more information. The Sage Ultan the White knows more if you can find him. I hear he occasionally hangs out at the Pointy Hat Tavern. But anyway, we expect the Temporal Vaults to be huge. Our initial reports indicate it's a massive dungeon with several levels, and it’s rich with treasure.
Or if you guys think you aren’t ready for the Temporal Vaults, the Ministry of Security has asked us for help hunting giant rats. They're paying 1 gold piece per rat tail. The rats are out of control. I swear, when I visited the public latrines last week, one bit my ass.
If you’re up for rat hunting- go see Guild Master Wilgus Clearpipe at the Sewer Workers Guild on Midden Street."
Or if you guys think you aren’t ready for the Temporal Vaults, the Ministry of Security has asked us for help hunting giant rats. They're paying 1 gold piece per rat tail. The rats are out of control. I swear, when I visited the public latrines last week, one bit my ass.
If you’re up for rat hunting- go see Guild Master Wilgus Clearpipe at the Sewer Workers Guild on Midden Street."
The characters ask Mobius if they can lodge in this room, but Mobius tells them he only rented it for the night. However, he says they can crash here for the night if the don't trash the place. Mobius also recommends they seek out hired retainers to help them. He says they can try to recruit downstairs at the Dripping Tap, but they might have better luck at a dive called Sal's where a lot of mercenaries and fighters hang out.
The mood of the new party is festive and the energy is high- especially with the Bard Big Mac throwing down rhymes. They head back downstairs and debate their next move over ale. After Zed the Illusionist announces he doesn't drink, Big Mac offers the Magic-User a hand-rolled joint of Dragonweed. Zed accepts it, but gives it back after he finds it's brown schwag.
Harlack hires a Torchbearer known as Shit-Tooth, who is aptly named for his rotting teeth and horrible breath from chewing Skag (a powerful addictive stimulant). Harlack quickly learns Shit-Tooth is paranoid, strung-out, and jumpy. Big Mac accepts a Packbearer named Pots into his service. No other retainers agree to join the party.
Everyone except Hob votes to try their luck at rat hunting. Along with Shit-Tooth and Pots, they set off for the Guildhall of the Sewer Workers, which is several miles away. Big Mac hails a two-wheeled coach cab, while the rest of the party walks on foot. When they arrive at the Sewer Workers' Guildhall, they are are greeted by a two-headed Mutoid Journeyman Sewer Worker named Slarg. One head greets them, while the other head simultaneously curses them. Eventually, they get Slarg to take them to the Guildmaster, Wilgus Clearpipe.
Wilgus, the self-proclaimed "King of the Latrines," gives the party a speech about how his Guild gets no appreciation and the whole city would be knee deep in piss and shit if it wasn't for them. He doesn't give a lot of details on the giant rats, except that a few workers have gone missing and they had to seal off a whole section of the sewers. He suspects a large nest lies not far from the Guildhall. Finally, Wilgus leads the party down into the sewers. They descend several staircases and finally an iron ladder until they reach a sewer tunnel. A five foot wide channel of sewage and waste water runs between two stone ledges on either side of the tunnel.
The odor of waste is overpowering. When the characters complain, Wilgus sniffs the air and says with a grin, "Smells like money to me." Wilgus wishes them luck and points them west towards where he think the rats have a lair.
With Shit-Tooth the Torchbearer lighting the way, the party heads west. They find a section of the sewer wall half-collapsed and there are several holes in the rubble. Big Mac is small enough to crawl through one of the holes and he finds a natural cave on the other side. It is full of rat droppings. Since the holes aren't large enough for anyone except the two halflings, the party decides to clear the rubble. It takes them ten minutes, but they aren't bothered by wandering monsters.
Inside the cave, they are quickly attacked by six giant rats. Zed the Magnificent casts Sleep and they make short work of the rats, but not before Harlack and Shit-Tooth are bit and take minor wounds. They kill the sleeping rats and cut off the tails so they can collect the reward.
Two tunnels lead further into the rat caves. The party heads southeast and finds a cave find with muck and slime. They trudge through the slime, which comes up to the halflings' knees, poking ahead with a 10 foot pole. Suddenly, Harlack looks up at the ceiling and spots a large patch of nasty Green Slime just in the nick of time. It covers the entrance to the next cave. They discuss trying to burn it, but they decide to avoid it and head back to try the other passage.
That passage leads south and the tunnel thankfully is clear of slime. The halflings both hear squeaks and scratching noises ahead. Hob sneaks forward and sees seven giant rats devouring several human corpses, which are ripped apart and dismembered. Several rats fight to eat a severed head. The cave is filled with refuse, blood, and gore.
Since the rats are distracted while they are feeding, the party decides to set up an ambush. They all get in position just outside the cave. The plan is to have Zed shoot a firebolt into the cave and hope the rats run towards the ambush site. However, the rats notice the light from Shit-Tooth's torch before Zed can get his cantrip off. Even though the ambush doesn't work as planned, they make quick work of the rats with only minor injuries. Two of the rats flee the fight so they now have 11 rat tails. They search the cave with the body parts, despite the sickening smell and gore, and find a pouch with 55 gp, 32 sp, and a (unidentified) potion.
In the next chamber, they find the ceiling is low. The halflings can move unimpeded, but Harlack the Trull and Hayabusa the Mantid have to stoop. The cave with the low-ceiling has a cesspool running down the center and is long and narrow. Hob uses a 10 foot pole to test the depth of the murky water, when a Gray Ooze, perfectly hidden in the pool, rises and strikes at the surprised halfling. Hob is struck for max damage and knocked unconscious (reduced past 0 hit points, but Dan rolled a successful saving throw vs. Death). [DM's Note: We play death at 0 hit points. You get 1 saving throw vs. Death to survive. If you fail, you die.]
The Gray Ooze slinks out of the water and strikes Harlack, partially disintegrating the Trull's scale mail. Hayabusa cuts the thing in half with his Katana, killing it, but the thing's acidic slime eats away at his blade (giving it -1 to attacks).
After the fight the party rests for a turn. Zed revives Hob with a healer's kit. Hob decides to drink the unidentified potion, hoping it is a potion of healing. Harlack says it's risky, but Hob is a gambler. He drinks the potion and his face begins to itch. Then he sprouts a full beard down to his chest. So much for healing, he drank a Potion of Beard Growth. Hob suspects his new beard is permanent until he shaves.
Further on past the cesspool, they find a large heap of trash. Nearly a hundred (normal sized) rats rush from the trash pile to attack, but Hayabusa gives a bellowing Samurai shout while flourishing his katana and scares off the rat swarm. The party searches through the trash and finds scraps of cloth, rotting food, bones, broken glass, a bent fork, a boot covered in muck, and a Silver medallion worth 250 gp.
The next cave is oddly separated by a crude curtain hammered with spikes in the ceiling. Inside, the party finds a small cave with several bed piles made of ripped cloaks and straw. It doesn't look like rats made these beds. In the next cave to the south, which is separated by another curtain, they hear weird squeaks and hissing- almost like rats talking to themselves.
Hayabusa pokes his insect-like head through the curtain and finds himself inches from a Ratman! Four other Ratmen occupy the chamber. They all wield shortswords and one large one has a crude pistol! As each side heard each other, neither is surprised. Hayabusa gets a critical hit and chops off the first Ratman's head. Harlack rushes in the room swinging his battleaxe and he gets quickly surrounded. One of the Ratmen bites him (and Keith failed his saving throw against the infection).
The fight looks tough, but manageable- until five more giant rats rush in from the west. Harlack withdraws from melee and then the party decides to run. The four Ratmen and five Giant Rats give pursuit and they are faster than the party!
We ended on that cliff hanger- will they escape? Find out next time.
Thanks for reading!
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