Characters
- Flake (Owl Village Spirit)
- Zlatia (Human Troglodyte)
- Grismelda (Human Religious Radical)
- Hoot (Owl Primal Chaos Worshiper)
- Reynaert (Fox Journalist)
- John Shepherd (War Bear Peasant)
Session Recap
Leaving the safety of the Domovoi Camp once more, the group decides to try a sneaky approach near the territory of the Goat cultists. Using only the jar of glowing grubs as a dim source of light the party sneak their way north-east. Unfortunately just as they approach the junction they were going to take, they see a patrol of five goat cultists heading off from their own camp and out to look for victims. Deciding to use their sneaky position to launch an attack Zlatia and Hoot fire off magical bolts, taking out two cultists (including the one holding their torch), and then Flake and Grismelda rush towards them, but the cultists manage to repel them and disengage. The party do not feel like following deeper into the cultist territory, so they also step back. The groups have a tense standoff broken by the cultists demanding what their fucking problem is. Accusations of "You guys killed our friends!" fly from both directions, and the cultists just tell the party to stay off their fucking territory and they won't kill them anymore.
The party agree and continue eastward, making it only a few meters before the (in hindsight fairly obvious) betrayal as a group of six cultists sneak up on Zaltia and shank her to death, then proceed to push into the rest of the party. Grismelda turns with a roar of "THE EARTH MOTHER WILL DEVOUR US ALL!" and launches herself in a doomed attack at the cultists, who subdue and take her down as Flake and Hoot run past them and back to camp.
They quickly recruit some more help, with Reynaert the Fox joining up and John Shepherd (not to be confused with the other John), a ponderous war bear peasant who also decides to come along. Hoot and Flake also spend quite a few turns resting to try and recover some of their magical energies, before the group ventures back out, this time deciding to avoid the cultists entirely and instead explore the southern parts of the dungeon.
They make their way into the overgrown massive cavern where the Domovoi hunters make their camp (only running into a pair of guys watching over the camp, with the rest of the hunting expedition down in the Deep Forest), who exchange some niceties and thank them for the Soup Stone that the party gifted them last session.
Heading past the yawning chasm in the middle of the large cavern (the entrance into the Deep Forest), the party head north, exploring the best they can the rest of the cavern system. Heading back west they eventually complete the loop, discovering the same passage where they were attacked by the cultists and Grismelda and Zlatia were taken frrom.
Continuing around the caverns they run into Branimir the Bogatyr, a rather haggard and tired looking warrior sitting on a rock. When he sees they are not hostile he greets them and asks for their help - a fearsome and arrogant beast lurks in the Deep Forest, the Basilisk. Branimir has been trying to hunt down and slay the beast to avenge his brother, his lover and other companions that have all fallen to its petrifying poison. The group agree, but ask that Branimir come with them first, so they can prepare for the expedition back in camp. He's willing to join them, and in fact becomes very incensed when he learns about the Goat cultists and what they have been doing, and demands the group go back and confront them.
Emboldened by the warrior's presence the group head back into cultist territory, immediately running into them, and engaging them in a fight. Branimir rushes forward, slamming his large two-handed club in the ground causing a small quake to happen, which knows out several of the cultists. This gives the rest of the party the opening to also rush in and with the Chaos Shard (found last session) humming with magical power, the group make short work of the cultists. They put up a decent fight, but after two rounds of bloody combat there are only three of them left. The group interrogate them about the goat and about why they do what they do, then simply kill them. Unable to find their lost companions, they however find a stash of various interesting and useful items - shotgun shells, a working flashlight, some lanterns, a bunch of leaflets with strange writing on them and a strange bronze orb, inscribed with symbols, including the sigil of one Valvirian the Green Death, a fearsome and powerful wizard.
Satisfied with their haul the party pack what they can from the cultist camp and leave their corpses to feed the Goat, and head back to safety.
Observations
Man this was a hell of a session. Quite short, unfortunately, as two of the players had to leave relatively early, but in the short time they played they managed to get into several fights (and even won the last one!), recruit a powerful ally and finally get some resolution with the goat cultists.
The Goat cultist thing has been a running through-line since session one, as the party either unintentionally or not keep running into these freaks and the violence between the two groups has kept escalating since then. With over 20 of the cultists left, their power (what little there was) is now very much broken, which will lead to some dramatic changes I would need to make about who and what can now roam in the dungeon.
Branimir is also one of the encounters I was very pleased with when I was stocking the dungeon initially, and it made me quite happy to see him actually appear in the dungeon! He is quite a powerful fighter, with a good weapon and some magical abilities (like summing a small earthquake), however he also comes with a rather dangerous quest - delve down into the Deep Forest and actively seek and fight a rather dangerous enemy.I, as the referee, am really looking forward to see how this goes for them. The PCs so far have not been particularly good fighters (see previous session reports filled with the group just running away from fights), however some clever use of magical attacks and their new found powerful artifact might be enough to win them that fight.
Now it just means I have to actually write up the Basilisk lair, hah since I had not expected them to have to look for it that early! But hey, this is part of writing such a daunting project as a megadungeon - you don't write all of it at once, you simply add and expand as needed.
Finally, Tunnels & Trolls combat continues to be fast and brutal, and the high level of abstraction is a bit lacking even when compared to just something like B/X or OD&D, it has served its purpose well enough so far.
Session Stats
Rooms Explored: 2
Enemies Defeated: 12 Goat Cultists
Characters Dead: 2 - Zlatia and Grismelda
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