Deep Carbon Observatory adventure log - Session 15

 Session 15

Sunday the 7th, from to 18.00

Monday the 8th

Tuesday the 9th

Wednesday the 10th

Thursday the 11th, up until 9 am

Player Characters and Retainers present at the beginning of the session:

• D. - Oobl, Level 5 Mossling
• James - Tomkin, Level 3 Hunter
• Marcus - Melysee, Level 4 Human Knight
• Peter - Albert, Level 4 Woodgrue
• Ythan - Clement, Level 5 Human Enchanter
• Clement is followed by Max Kosciusko - Level 1 Hunter (likeable sailor covered in tattooed monsters; loves oranges) and owns Elain the dog.
• Oobl is followed by Rex, a Level 1 Fighter (pox-scarred and with a prominent gold tooth).
• Tomkin is followed by Osric, Level 1 Fighter (an exotic look, with a strange accent, green-tinged skin and an unusual 2-handed sword) and owns Zoe the dog.
• Albert is followed by Petra, a Level 1 thief (Lovely perfumes and dressed in colourful silks, very elegant) and Ella, a Level 1 Bard (a prominent shack bite on her left shoulder).

The breached Dam - this picture has been modified from the original

Sunday the 7th – Evening

The Magpies spent the evening in the shallows outside Polnogallum after the Sparrows found them there. The Magpies bartered some riches and a magical ring for a potion of invisibility. They also exchange some magical mushrooms for provisions.

• Oobl spent some time training and became at last proficient with Echo's Kusarigama.
• Tomkin trained with Zaghouan's crossbow, making some progress but not reaching proficiency yet.
• Albert exchanged stories with the Sparrow's bard.
• Clement and the retainers attempted fishing unsuccessfully.

Monday the 8th 

Part of the group, led by Clement, made an expedition toward Pollnagollum, gathering wood and tools to construct wheels for transporting their boats on land. 

The other half, led by Tomkin, enjoyed an exceptionally successful hunt, killing a red deer and preserving approximately 35 rations of fresh meat. 

In the evening, they noticed the Laputa (Zaratusa's ship) sailing north upriver. 

The tamed Horse-Shoe Super-Crab

Tuesday the 9th 

The Magpies discovered strange driftwood floating in the river, encrusted with golden metal. They were carrying it with them in place of one of the two golem gears they had been carrying.

They spotted the Laputa again, now moored against a rock roughly one mile south of the dam. To avoid the sailors, the party moved through shallow water and muddy banks, completing the assembly of their wheels. 

During this time, they surprised a Horse-Shoe Super-Crab emerging from the mud. Albert suffered a nasty bite after managing to pacify the creature, and Tomkin successfully tamed it. The party found footprints of Kapeks moving north. 

That evening:

• Melysee learned how to fight while mounted on the crab.
• Oobl and Albert dried some of Oobl’s symbiotic fungus, producing a smokable tobacco that allowed breath underwater.
• Clement experimented with reinforcing the boat using the unusual metal-encrusted wood and made some progress on the work.

The mastodontic Eagle feeding on the smashed crab

Wednesday the 10th

At dawn, the Magpies witnessed a colossal eagle flying south from Reed Lake, clutching a different Horse-Shoe Super-Crab in its talons. The eagle dropped the crab onto the rocks near where the Laputa was moored and began feeding on the innards of the smashed crustacean. The Laputa hastily moved away to avoid the creature. 

The Magpies proceeded north, riding their tamed crab and wheeling their boats behind them. They reached the base of the dam, observing a golem several miles to the east; six massive sluice gates are embedded at the dam’s base; a barge was moored near the structure, and they noticed a chamber inside the dam on its eastern side of the broken section. 

Using one of the recovered golem gears, they opened an entrance and brought one of the boats inside. As the golem approached, they abandoned the tamed crab and the second boat outside. 

Inside the dam, the party ascended internal stairs, hauling the boat with them over many exhausting hours. They reached the top of the dam after sunset and made camp there. 

During the night, they heard screaming coming from the area where the dam had collapsed. 

The golem of Mintaka, at the base of the Dam

Thursday the 11th 

At dawn, the Magpies stood atop the dam, overlooking the flooded Lock Valley to the south and Reed Lake to the north. 

They spotted the Laputa moored at the base of the dam and observed a group of Kapeks gathering on what had once been the lakebed. 

Using a scroll, Clement cast Move Terrain, creating a ramp that allowed the group to descend safely into the lake basin and enter the profundal zone.

XP for session 15

Feats of Exploration

• Discovered point of interest: Polnogallum
• Tamed the Horse-Shoe Super-Crab
• Produced wheels to transport a boat on land
• Used a Golem gear to open a slushgate
• Used a scroll to descend from the top of the dam
• Surpassed the Dam

Treasure recovered

• None

Adversary defeated

• Horse-Shoe Super-Crab

Totals:

• Tomkin gains 1663 XP and reaches 8968 XP; they have 99% of the necessary XP to progress to level 4
• Oobl gains 2494 XP and reaches 21120 XP; they have 20% of the necessary XP to progress to level 6
• Clement gains 1663 XP and reaches 19751 XP; they have 41% of the necessary XP to progress to level 6
• Albert gains 1663 XP and reaches 14360 XP; they have 79% of the necessary XP to progress to level 5
• Melysee gains 3326 XP and reaches 18872 XP. LEVEL UP! Character ascended to level 5

• Zoe gain 831 XP and reach 1895 XP.
• Elain gain 831 XP and reach 5120 XP.

• Max (Hunter) gains 831 XP and reaches 1709 XP.
• Osric (Fighter) gains 831 XP and reaches 1709 XP.
• Rex (Fighter) gains 831 XP and reaches 1709 XP.
• Petra (Thief) gains 831 XP and reaches 1709 XP. LEVEL UP! Character ascended to level 2
• Ella (Bard) gains 831 XP and reaches 1709 XP.

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All the details about Deep Carbon Observatory belong to Patrick Stuart - Buy the module - His Blog - My Review - Video Review

All the art belongs to Scap Princess - Buy her stuff - Her Blog

All the elements of Dolmenwood belong to Gavin Norman - Buy the system - Video Review

Deep Carbon Observatory adventure log - Session 14

 

Session 14

Polnogallum One-Shot

To ease back into the narrative after the Christmas break, we played a one-session adventure set in Polnogallum. Instead of their usual characters, the players took on the roles of the Sparrows—a group of local teenagers from Polnacrom and Polnogallum, led by Finn and North.

I usually stay very close to the material in Deep Carbon Observatory, but for this one-shot I took considerable liberties and essentially built an original dungeon around its themes. To do so I toke inspirations from The Waking of Willowby Hall by Questing Beast, The Alchemist's Repose by Questing Beast ant the example dungeon from Swyvers by Melsonia Art Council.

 

 Ythan sketches about several aspects of this adventure

Background - Mostly Unknown to the Players at the beginning of the game

Around fifty years ago, the children of Polnogallum attempted to kill a witch. They tried many methods and did not truly succeed, but they did manage to throw her down a well, where she remains to this day—alive, trapped, and dangerous.

About a week ago, Harrap, a magic-user from the same circle as Ruskin, Rem, and Tzani, arrived in Polnogallum while researching the ancient civilization of the dam builders. During her stay, she communed with the witch, gaining fragments of knowledge and a skeleton key. Harrap established a small base camp in the witch manor house, then continued north toward the dam. The day after the dam collapsed.

A few days ago—after the dam collapse—a group of the cannibal conspiracy sailed upriver from Polnacrom. They captured Ruskin (the corpulent magician from the Fool’s Duel) and brought him to Polnogallum. Their goal: to free the witch from the well.

Complicating matters, the well is choked with thick mud, and one of the dam’s guardian golems has settled nearby, attacking anyone who approaches. The cannibals have taken over the nearby manor, enslaved several villagers, and are forcing them to dig a tunnel from the basement toward the base of the well.

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What neither the players nor the cannibals know is that this tunnel will breach an underground structure before reaching the well—a sealed chamber containing something far worse. If the PCs do nothing, the cannibals will accidentally release this ancient monstrosity. Many of them will die, but enough will survive to finish the excavation and ultimately free the witch.

Session start

The Sparrows approached the manor and discovered a cannibal’s corpse trapped in the mud in the upper part of the well. One character circled around the building, entered through the rear, located Ruskin, and freed him after extracting crucial information.

Meanwhile, the rest of the group crept up to the kitchen window and silently subdued the cannibal cook before cutting his throat. Further exploration followed, but a pair of cannibals emerged from the basement. The group managed to deal with them—though not before they raised the alarm.

Another group of cannibals was stuck in the parlor by one of the PC. Attempting to assist their comrades, they tried to escape through a window, where Ruskin expended his final spell to kill them. Unfortunately, this drew the attention of the golem, which promptly killed Ruskin as well.

The remaining cannibals attempted to rush upstairs but were driven back by a coordinated player action involving a pot of boiling human stew. They retreated into the basement, barricaded themselves in, and continued digging.

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With the golem distracted, the characters explored the rest of the manor. They accessed a hidden room—a sanctum containing alchemical supplies, a book of names documenting especially vile dead people selected by the witch “to be taken back”, and a stairway leading to a sealed underground chamber. From below came horrific, swine-like sounds. Wisely, the characters chose to leave it undisturbed.

They recovered several potions, freed an enslaved Polnogallum villager, and discovered a workshop containing a humanoid golem, similar to a small version of one of the dam guardians, complete with instruction tablets. They also found Harrap’s former base of operations and her notes, which filled in much of the missing background.

By the end of the session, the characters were unable to stop the cannibals from completing their dig. The sealed chamber was breached, and the ancient swine monstrosity was released. Several Polnogallum villagers died, but the Sparrows managed to avoid the creature and weakened the remaining cannibals enough to prevent them from freeing the witch.

All in all, it was a very good session. 

Join my Discord Server. We only play in person, but you are welcome to pop in to say hi

All the details about Deep Carbon Observatory belong to Patrick Stuart - Buy the module - His Blog - My Review - Video Review

All the art belongs to Scap Princess - Buy her stuff - Her Blog

All the elements of Dolmenwood belong to Gavin Norman - Buy the system - Video Review