Sorcery! #7 - The Sham

Campaign Diary

The party tried to parley with the Moon Serpent, but it was in no mood to talk. The Moon Serpent attacked with ferocity, and neither weapons nor Morgana’s spell seemed to wound it. Then Goncol, frustrated by the ineffectiveness of his daggers, cast a cantrip to conjure a flame in his hand, and struck the serpent with it – instantly there was a flare as the fire burned the skin of the serpent. The Moon Serpent turned its wrath on Goncol, but another attack with the fire saw it go up in bright flames that temporarily blinded the party. When their sight returned, they saw that all that remained of the Moon Serpent was a crystal orb on the ground where it had stood.

Morgana picked up the orb, and cast a spell of premonition. In her trace she saw herself walking through a forest. As she walked, she became aware that she was being stalked by an invisible foe. She tried to walk faster, but felt herself unable to move her limbs. As she began to panic, she was shaken back to her senses by the others.

Finding shelter among outcrops of rocks, the party rested for the night.

The next morning the party decided to head northeast, hoping to find the Sham, a sorceress mentioned in the scroll Glowulf had purchased from the Black Elves. However, dark clouds approaching from their east forced them to seek shelter. The party found a large ruined building standing amidst the remains of a village. Reading the inscriptions on the temple, they learned that it was a temple to Throff, the Earth Goddess. The roof of the building had long collapsed, so the party descended the flight of stairs in the main hall and entered the hypogeum, where the worship of Throff took place.

The stairs ended in a large hall, decorated by painted flagstones that are now broken by weathering. Outside, the sound of rain and wind indicated that the storm has arrived. Exploring deeper into the hypogeum, the party came upon a smaller hall. Before they could investigate the hall further, bronze doors came down over the archway they had just entered through and the archway opposite it. At the same time, the four stone pillars in the room began to twist and bend until they each attained a roughly humanoid form, and then moved to attack the party. The party’s steel weapons could do little against the rocky forms of the creatures. Realising that these creatures were probably guardians of the inner temple put here to keep non-worshippers out, Morgana immediately declared her allegiance to Throff, and the creatures stopped attacking her. Rushing to the far door, she bade it to open in Throff’s name and it did as she commanded, and the party fled through it.

The door led into a passage that ended in a small round room, at the centre of which was a small pool. Morgana approached the pool and saw that its surface was covered in scum. When she reached into the pool, the ghostly form of a skeletal figure rose up, and again the party found themselves under attack. Once more their spells and steel had little effect on the incorporeal form, and once more Goncol thought to try a different means: he poured the holy water he had bought from the Black Elves into the pool; instantly the scum receded from where the water touched, and the ghostly form faded. Soon the pool was filled with clear water. Morgana drank from the pool, and felt the blessings of Throff.

The party took a short nap, and when they awoke the storm had passed. They continued their journey towards the northeast. Late in the afternoon they came upon a solitary gnome, traveling in the opposite direction from them. The gnome demanded to know if they were friends or foes, and when they replied that they were friends, the gnome demanded a gift as a token of their friendship.
They obliged. The gnome accepted their gift, and transformed into a beautiful woman – she was the sorceress called the Sham. The Sham in turned gifted them with a vial of gas that would put to sleep the Sleepless Ram, a formidable guardian of the archmage in Mampang, a staff that would weaken the Seven Serpents, and knowledge of the weakness of the Fire Serpent. She then reverted to the form of the gnome again, and continued her way.

Near sunset the party spied a Klatta village. Curiously, only women, children, and the elderly were visible – there were no men in sight. The party made a wide berth of the village, and settled down to another night in the open.

The next day passed without event as the party continued to trek to the north. Now and then they saw the dust clouds stirred up by large bodies of men – the tribes are on the move. In the afternoon they came across old bones from hundreds of skeletons, littered across the ground. The bones were of men, elves, and centaurs, and the damage to the bones and the presence of flint arrowheads embedded in some of them told Valerian that they were crossing an ancient battlefield.

At sunset they arrived at the escarpment at the edge of the Klatta-badu Plains. Here they could see the Forest of Snatta below, and beyond that, the dark line and snowy tops of the Zanzunu Peaks. Wary of spending the night in the forest, the party settled down for the night. When the sun has set, they saw clusters of campfires to their east and their west. In eleven nights the tribes will gather at the shores of Lake Ilklala.

The next morning the party started to descend the scree to reach the forest. As they struggled to keep their balance, the ground suddenly opened up under Glowulf and Valerian, and they fell into a large pit some ten feet deep. Before they could climb out of the pit, the ground began to rumble again, and rocks leapt from the ground and struck them. They scrambled to reach the edge of the pit, but once more the ground heaved, and a giant serpent with scales that looked like rocks emerged – it was the Earth Serpent.

Morgana and Goncol jumped into the pit, and together the four heroes battled the serpent. Remembering Shadrack’s advice, Glowulf and Valerian grappled the powerful form of the serpent, and with great effort hoisted it off the earth. The serpent began to shrink to the size of a small snake, slipping out of their grasp; but before it could touch the earth again, Goncol reached out and seized it. He then thrusted the writhing snake into a glass vial, where it struggled weakly, before turning into stone.

The party hurried down the slope and entered the forest, hoping that their battle had not drawn unwanted attention.

It was a different world under the thick canopy of the forest: the air was cool and moist, and there were sounds of birds and unseen forest creatures. The party followed animal trails, heading towards the north. Soon, the party became aware that they were, true to Morgana’s vision, being followed by creatures they could not see. When he heard a rustling sound coming from his left, he lunged towards the sound, striking blindly with his sword… and felt something constrict around his sword arm – a plant had come alive, and had wrapped its vine around his arm.

Glowulf grabbed the hewing axe he had bought from the Black Elves, and with a swift stroke cut through the vine, but more vines began to wrap themselves around Valerian’s feet. At the same time, Goncol felt the claws on an invisible beast strike him across his back. Morgana panicked and ran down another trail, but was attacked by one of the another invisible beasts. For a while confusion reigned, until Goncol landed a blow against his invisible opponent and it showed its form: it was a Snattacat, a tiger-like creature that could turn invisible at will. Glowulf managed to free Valerian, and together the party soon slew one of the Snattacats, and the other one retreated.

Prepping and Running the Game

Most of the encounters in this session came from the original gamebook/module, but the Temple of Throff mini-dungeon was re-designed to make it more interesting.

This was an action-packed session in terms of combat, but I also did two things that were important to the whole story: I gave the players the sense that the tribes were on the move, and that something momentous was about to happen, and I also tried to impress upon them that the Baklands was a region that saw warfare between the various races and tribes that dwelt there - this last part would have bearing later in the story.

While the session was light-hearted as usual and saw the usual jokes and banter, the gravity of their quest had become more apparent to the players. For a while they discussed whether they should try to rouse the tribes against the archmage, or to ambush the archmage as he came to Lake Ilklala, but they eventually decided to continue traveling to Mampang as originally planned. This was a bit of a disappointment to me, as I was fully prepared to let them take control of the direction of the quest, and I was also hoping to not have to prep the whole fortress, which would take quite a lot of effort on my part.