Raid on the Blasphemed Temple
Our heros!
- E, playing Quorra, the human bard
- N1, playing Balgruuf, the human ranger
- A, playing Clark, the evil human cleric of Thor (god of knowledge, secrets, and smashing things with warhammers)
- N2, playing Hermoine, the human wizard
- B, playing Hyenyo, the elvin druid
- J, playing Kormac, the human fighter
A & N1 have never played an RPG of any sort, while N2 has only played a few sessions of Apocalypse World I ran a while back. E, B, and J all had characters from a previous few sessions of DW I ran and continued to use them. I had not done any prepwork or dungeon design as I might normally, so I was really just winging it.
After character creation, I began by saying that they all knew each other (of course) and had been hired as a group by the local high priest of Thor. The high priest told them of a once-splendid temple out in the foothills that had been sacred to Thor; now, however, it has become corrupted and vile. The corruption is also spreading out into the nearby wilderness. They were promised strong compensation, however I'm sure many of them would have done it regardless (for the cleric, of course, he'd do it out of loyalty to Thor; and the ranger and druid would both want to heal the corruption to the forest).
I began by having them make a perilous journey, since I wanted to give the ranger and druid a chance to show off their wilderness skills. They rolled well, but it put me in a spot... The scout roll is almost exactly like the old "search" or "spot" checks of some D&D editions. They simply see something - if there's anything to see. So I feel compelled to make something for them to see, otherwise the good roll is wasted and it's rather boring.
So I described the shore of a small-ish lake alongside the path they were travelling. Off in the distance they could see three corpses on the shore, soggy and soaked. The rotted figures began to moan. Our heroes, of course, had a chance to choose their course of action and the corpses (zombies) had not yet noticed the party.
The ranger asked if he could eat the corpses, but after explaining that they were soggy and fetid (not to mention moaning loudly!), he changed his mind. The bard has a song (a mournful dirge reminiscent of the sorrows of life) that can freeze undead in their tracks - or compel them to attack - and she played this song. Of course, she didn't do so well, so the zombies sprang to life and attacked!
After a short battle, the party is victorious over the zombies. Strangely enough, they didn't even search the bodies or the shore! They just continued on to the temple.
Upon reaching the temple, they found a fifty-foot high building, one hundred by one hundred. Directly in front of them, to the north, they see a large stone door. They also see what was once a sculpted holy symbol of Thor (a warhammer cracking open a book locked in chains). The symbol once sat above the door, but has fallen to the ground and begun to crumble. On the eastern wall, a large pile of rubble sits.
The druid shapeshifts into a bat to use echolocation and determine that the rubble conceals an entrance to the temple. As well, there is a pyramid-shaped protrusion on top of the building, perhaps 10*10, and it is hollow. With the help of the powerfully strong fighter, they clear out the rubble and find an entrance to an old library. They also find a fancy-looking book wrapped in chains inside the rubble and took it. At the time, I had no clue what this book was or would do, but it soon became clear.
The party initially moves out of the library to a nearby hallway, but returns. They are reluctant to spend too much time here after a rough encounter at a different library, but I assured them they'd find no panthers here. So they search the library. A few take books (one person got "The Care & Feeding of Owlbears"), and they find a painting of the high priest (not the current one, but one from long ago) holding the same book they found in the rubble. There is also a pedestal in front of the painting.
The fighter decided to take the book and place it upon the pedestal. Doing so, he feels a hand-like energy grasping at his mind and soul. He could have resisted, of course, but he chose to allow it to continue. The hand pulled secrets from his mind, including what price it'd take him to serve the dark forces here. That comes up later! Then, the book unlocks on its own and the pages rapidly flip one-by-one until the book is closed.
Only the fighter is close enough to really see, and somehow he comprehends everything inside. He is now touched by lore that man was not meant to know - maybe not such a good thing... Then, the painting behind the pedestal burns up and the wall behind it drops down, revealing a secret passage. The heroes begin to go into the passage (it is quite short!) and find themselves at a door. They open the door and find only darkness - their light sources do not penetrate into it. Once, this was part of a sacred rite of Thor - abandoning your human limitations and trusting that Thor will guide you to knowledge.
Anyway, the druid (still a bat) uses his echolocation to get an idea of the room's layout. It is small (6*6, maybe) and holds a warhammer and a number of books. The druid tells this to the cleric, and the cleric rushes in (with the bat-druid on his shoulder). Unfortunately, it's trapped, and a stone wall slams down behind them.
Inside, the cleric takes the books and warhammer and tries to determine how to escape. I'm not sure how he ended up finding out (I forget), but it requires him to spill his blood upon the wall and speak his greatest fear. Not having a knife or anything else to cut with, the bat-druid spends his last hold to bite the cleric, drawing blood. This turns the druid back into an elf (his face covered in blood) and the cleric says his fear - that the fighter will murder him sometime.
This causes the wall of stone to collapse into dust, and the party leaves the secret passage. Next, they head out of the library and down a passage, to an iron door covered in an etching of a warhammer. This is the old temple's armory, but the party doesn't know this. The door is locked and there's no thief in the party, but the bard discerns realities and asks a question. She finds out that if she turns the door handle just so and sticks the point of her rapier in, she can jiggle the lock open. She also finds out that the door is trapped, and opening it will expose her to danger.
She opens the door and a poison gas escapes. She tries to get out of the way, but fails, and inhales the cloud. She then falls to her knees hacking and coughing and vomiting up blood. I think she tried to do something else and failed again, because she found herself facing up to a vile snake-man. Also, in the fight, the bard is infected with snake-man venom. After a tough battle, the heroes manage to slay the snake-man. They enter the armory and explore it. They find a forge plus some basic armor and weapons.
The snake-man was carrying two fancy-looking scimitars and people assume they're magical. This is backed up when the fighter grasps them and begins to feel feelings of dread and sorrow. He wants to know their magical powers, so he asks the wizard to do a ritual. I forget the exact details, but it ended up with her being possessed by a raven-demon and another PC slowly turning into an undead. They are Mindslicer, a sword which steals knowledge with each cut, and Doomspawn, a sword which raises up undead.
At this point, the cleric creates a sanctuary in the armory and prays to his god for help. At this point, we have two people infected with venom, one turning into a zombie, and one possessed by a demon. Thor says he'll help, but only if the cleric promises to reclaim and cleanse the temple completely. If they fail or give up, Thor will condemn them all to hell forever and ever. Of course, the cleric agrees, which puts the souls of all his companions at risk!
The fighter wants to use his blacksmith move to transfer the power of Doomspawn to his signature spear, so I decide it works like rituals. It'll take three weeks and a few other tasks, so the party decides to secure themselves inside the armory while he does this. The druid goes out into the foothills to investigate the dire animals being born because of the corruption and to study their essence, while the wizard and fighter work to transfer the magic of the sword to the spear.
The ranger, bard, and cleric decide to investigate the temple further and follow a different passage. They find a simple wooden door. I ask them repeatedly if they are being quiet or loud, and the ranger and cleric both say "loud". The ranger then throws the door open, and I ask him if he's sure about just barging in. Of course, the snake-men on the other side heard them and were able to prepare. Thus, the ranger finds himself with a snake-man scimitar inside his arm.
After a very, very close fight, they are victorious, but the ranger and his bear are both infected with venom. The bard had fallen through a pit into the basement, but climbed out. The bard also failed a number of rolls and death commands her to kill the druid. She refuses and tells him off, so he stops her heart and she takes her last breath. Of course, now she rolls well, telling off death, and recovers just fine. She does this again a few moments later when death comes back, angrier.
The druid, ranger, and cleric return to the armory and wait out the remaining three weeks. The venom in the ranger and bear convert them to a snake-man and snake-bear (respectively), but I'm not sure what that means. Finally, as everyone sleeps, the fighter finds himself restless. He sees a figure beckoning at him, holding a map of his home village (which he was exiled from and which he wants more than anything to return to).
The figure in it's heavy cloak leads him down the passage and begins speaking. It turns out this figure rules this temple now, and he wants the fighter's help in protecting it (from the rest of the party, by killing them); in return, the figure will modify the memories of the fighter's village so that they don't remember ever exiling him. He will also provide protection and prosperity to this village. The fighter is unsure, so the figure provides a means to contact him if the fighter decides to agree.
And this is how we ended!
- Alex