Novac, for that was the dwarf's name, was a "seeker" working for the Council of Karn Buldhar, a mining town in the jungles in the interior of the south known as the Gemthrone Wilderness. The Council had been having "orc trouble", and was looking for people who could handle the problem for them. Novac gave little detail of the nature of the "trouble", but the pay was handsome.
And so our heroes found themselves in the port city of Coluha a few weeks later, where they spent a few days acclimatising to the heat and humidity while preparing for the twelve-day journey to Karn Buldhar.
One evening at the inn they were approached by a merchant named Cregna, who sought to employ them as bodyguards as he too planned to travel to Karn Buldhar. Once more, handsome pay was promised, the full sum of which would be paid upon arrival at Karn Buldhar. Our heroes accepted the job, and two days later Arwin, Enree, Melig, along with Cregna, his bodyguard Baldrik (see PC profiles here), and two other servants set off on the road into the interior.
Three days into the journey the party came across the site of a carnage: the bodies of a few human and dwarves bearing signs of violence laid on the road. Several crates laid broken on the ground, their contents, including some silver, lay scattered. Cregna let out a cry of despair when he realised that the crates bore the mark of Novac the seeker. He revealed that he had been waiting in Coluha to buy a "trinket" from Novac, but had decided to travel to Karn Buldhar to find the dwarf when the latter did not show up for their appointment. When he failed to find the trinket in the debris, and when our heroes found signs that someone had been dragged off the road into the jungle, Cregna offered to pay our heroes even more silver if they could find Novac and recover the trinket for him.
So leaving the servants behind, our heroes and Cregna entered the jungle and followed the trail. Before long the trail led to a narrow causeway that led through a swamp, which our party followed. Two hours later, Arwin smelled smoke in the air. Scouting ahead of the party, he found that the causeway led to a large opening half a mile wide. Dozens of ruined dwellings covered the opening, and huddled outside one of the dwellings were several orcs cooking lunch.
When they noticed Arwin the orcs immediately began to attack him with arrows. The other members of the party joined in, and soon the orcs were either cut down or fleeing. Near to the orcs' campfire our heroes found a dwarf's clothes, muddied and ripped. Our heroes followed the orcs through the ruined dwellings further into the clearing, which opened into a large opening that was previously paved with stone. At one end of the opening two rows of ruined columns flanked a paved path, which lead to a mound. The orcs were fleeing towards the mound where many more orcs have gathered.
Seeing that they were now outnumbered, our heroes scattered and hid among the ruined buildings, while the orcs gave chase. By stealth and speed made their way to the base of the mound, where they found the body of Novac. His limbs were broken, and a large wound had been made under his ribcage - nearby was his heart, ripped from his chest. A trail of blood led from the slope of the mound, and our heroes surmised that he had been thrown from its summit. Three stone orc heads each half the height of a man or taller stood at the base of the mound, but there was no sign of any "trinket" which might be what Cregna was after.
Presently the orcs began to return to the mound, and our heroes ascended it. At the summit they found a stone altar bearing the relief of dragon on one side. A groove was cut on the top of the altar, which led into the jaws of the dragon. Dried blood, presumably from Novac, lined the groove. Here too there was no sign of any trinket, and by now the orcs were beginning to ascend the mound. In desperation our heroes searched the altar, and found a hidden door that led into the interior of the mound. Peering into the darkness, Enree saw a stone steps leading down a stone-lined passage - this was no hill, but a pyramid!
Our heroes lit a lantern and descended the stairs, and as they did so they poured lamp oil onto the steps. When they had reached the chamber at the bottom of the steps, they put out their lantern, and waited. Soon afterwards they heard the sound of the orcs entering the pyramid, and then the sound of the orcs falling down the slippery steps to the base of the stairs. Lighting their lantern again, our heroes quickly put the injured orcs to the sword.
When they had slain every orc, they surveyed the chamber they were in. The walls were lined with relief depicting the life of an orc king. In the far end of the room a set of double doors bore the relief of the king worshipping what was no doubt an orc god.
Cregna, who had evaded the orcs, now called to the heroes from the top of the stairs, and was warned about the oil. The merchant gingerly made his way down the stairs, and when he could not find his trinket among the bodies of the orcs, urged our heroes to explore further. Our heroes passed through the door to a colonnaded gallery that led to a smaller door, bearing a relief of the orc king with what seemed to be a mask over his face. Entering through this door, our heroes came into a smaller chamber. In the middle of the chamber was a stone sarcophagus. Around the rooms were broken pottery - it seemed that the tomb had previously been looted.
Our heroes decided to lift the lid of the sarcophagus and search within. When they opened the sarcophagus, they saw the mummified body of an orc warrior, but it bore no treasure. Baldrik began to search the body of the orc warrior, and as he did so the orc warrior reanimated and began to attack him with its obsidian sword. Baldrik was struck down, but the others overcame the undead warrior, and afterwards managed to rouse him.
When a search of the undead warrior's body revealed no sign of his trinket, Cregna became crestfallen. Then Enree noticed that the depth of the sarcophagus did not match its height. He urged Cregna to exit the pyramid and search the dwellings once more, and when the merchant had left he and the others searched the sarcophagus once more and found that it had a false bottom. Lifting this false bottom, they found the remains of the orc king, stripped of his burial treasures but one: a flawless jade mask that covered his face. Enree lifted the mask off the king's face, and tucked it inside his backpack.
Our heroes exited the pyramid and joined the dejected Cregna at the base, where they began to make their way back to the road. But as they passed the stone heads at the base of the pyramid, the ground began to rumble. Large stone hands erupted from the earth and pushed against the ground; the stone heads lifted off the ground and revealed themselves to be attached to giant stone bodies. Our heroes ran pell-mell towards the swamp as the stone giants pulled themselves free from the earth and pursued them. It soon became clear that they were converging on Enree. Panicking, Enree retrieved the mask from his backpack and tossed it to Baldrik. When he saw the mask Cregna let out an cry of excitement and demanded it be given to him. The stone giants now turned towards Baldrik, who tossed the mask to Cregna. Cregna caught the mask, and for a moment his face was filled with joy instead of fear. But it was a brief moment, as the hand of the largest stone giant closed around his body and seized him. Cregna screamed for help, but there was little our heroes could do as the stone giants now strode back to where they were buried, and when they had returned to their posts, their bodies began to sink into the earth along with Cregna and the mask, until once more only their heads were exposed.
Prepping and Running the Game
This was our first session after my recent move, and so I did not have time to prepare the sandbox module which I am basing this arc of the campaign on. I needed a one-shot module to depict the party's travel to the new base, and after some searching I found the module Watchers of Meng. This was a rather straightforward module, but the imagery of the Olmec style stone heads actually being attached to giant bodies was something which I thought was a nice twist.
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