Sorcery! 2 - The Jailbreak Job

Three days after their successful kidnapping of Morgana, Horovar, Penn, Silent, and Zhora were on their way east in a mule-cart, disguised as salted-fish merchants. Malus, Zul, Gearfried, and Zamm remained in Arkleton, waiting for instructions for their next job from V.

The party's destination was a little fishing village three days from the capital, where they would find and kill Glowulf, who had returned to his home village to become a simple fisherman.

Arriving late at night on the third day, they were taken into the home of the village headman, who fed them and offered them accommodation for the night. The party's inquisitiveness made the headman suspicious, and after he left them for the night, Horovar and Penn followed him secretly, and found that he had gone to tip Glowulf off at his fishing hut. Glowulf thanked the headman, and requested that the villagers not intervene if the was any trouble.

Returning to the hall, our villains decided to launch an attack on Glowulf's home. Entering the hut simultaneously from the front and back doors, they found the place in darkness. Penn shot an arrow into the bedroll in the corner... and heard the arrow sink into the wooden floor with a dull thud.

At the same time, two figures entered the room from the back door: it was Glowulf and Valerian. The two demanded to know who had sent our villains on their mission, but they were in no mood to talk. A melee ensued, and Glowulf was cut down and decapitated, while Valerian was knocked unconscious and taken prisoner. By now the commotion had drawn the attention of the villagers, who crowded around the hut with their improvised weapons. The party threatened to kill Valerian if they villagers did not disperse, but they did not comply - it was only when Penn and Horovar slew a few of them that the rest fled, allowing our villains to get away.

Our villains now made their way westward, towards Arkleton, with Glowulf's head in a bag and Valerian bound. On the second day they were overtaken by mounted guards dressed in the livery of Arkleton, coming from the east. The guards attempted to arrest our villains for the murders they committed in the fishing village, but they were not about to give themselves up without a fight. After a short, sharp fight, the four guards were dead, and Horovar laid gravely wounded on the ground. Valerian asked to be untied so he could aid the barbarian, and was unbound.

As he tended to Horovar's wounds, Valerian revealed that he had remained in Arkleton incognito after escaping from Goncol's laboratory, but had come to the fishing village to warn Glowulf after he learnt of Goncol's death and Morgana's kidnapping - whoever was responsible for those acts no doubt wanted them silenced for their part in their mission twenty years ago. As their mission was known only to few who were closest to the late king, whoever sent them would have to be someone high in the kingdom's hierarchy. And just as they were being silenced, Valerian warned the party, they were now probably being set up by whomever had sent the guards from Arkleton. Horovar, Silent, Zhora, and Valerian took the guards' clothes and horses, and with Penn driving the mule-cart, they returned to Arkleton.

When they returned to their respective inns, our villains learned that their companions had been arrested in the night they day after they had left by city guards, and were now held at the guard-house of the Fourteenth precinct.

Realising that whomever sent the guards after them would soon learn that they had failed in their mission, our villains decided to break their companions out of the jail immediately.

Penn started a fire in a neighbouring precinct, and an alarm was raised, drawing some of the guards from the Fourteenth there. Then, returning to the Fourteenth precinct, he shot the guard in the tower with a well-aimed arrow. Still in their guises as city guards, Horovar, Zhora, and Silent entered the guard-house, and struck down the guard at the front. The guard captain was similarly struck down when he emerged from his room, taken by surprise. The party entered the dungeon below the guard-house to find the last guard cowering in a corner - he was despatched, and his keys taken.

The party quickly located and freed Malus, Zul, Gearfried, and Zamm - bruised but still alive. When they emerged from the guard-house, they found Valerian on the street, and the bodies of two bounty-hunters behind him - someone had hired them to lie in wait for the party.

Now convinced that they would not be safe in the city, or indeed Analand, our villains decided to flee the city on their stolen horses - but where will they go? Perhaps, Horovar suggested, they will find safety in Mampang?

Prepping and Running the Game

After weeks of lockdown, we were finally able to play the conclusion of our Sorcery! campaign.

I was hoping that the revelation that Valerian was still alive would cause the players to question their mission, but as they were already suspecting that V was not in fact Valerian, they decided to complete their mission and kill Glowulf anyway. Fortunately for me, they decided to spare Valerian - why kill someone if you are not getting paid for it, right? - and that gave me a way to carry on the story.

The guards sent to arrest the party were supposed to arrive at the village in the morning, when it was expected that they would be fresh from their battle with Glowulf and therefore wounded or exhausted and therefore easy prey. Unfortunately for me the players decided to arrive late at night, and aroused suspicion with their questioning of the headman, and thus threw everything off.

The second half of the session was based on the Dusk City Outlaws module The Jailbreak Job. The modules in the series are short - 4 pages of text in this case - but provide enough information for the GM to run a full session. They are worth a look if you are running a campaign for a party of rogues or evil/not-quite-legal characters.

The campaign ended with some unresolved plot threads, which will allow us to have another sequel campaign in the future. Will the party flee to Mampang? Will they learn the true identity of V? Only time will tell...

Sorcery! 2 - Kidnap the Archpriest

With only two days to plan and execute the kidnapping, our villains split up to gather information and help.

They learned that the College of Sorcery is housed in what was previously a fort on an island on a tributary of the Goldflow river. The college is connected to the Great Temple of Libra via an exclusive sheltered wooden bridge, which Morgana and the senior members of the college would use to go to Goncol's funeral.

Making the rounds around the city, they learned that Morgana was guarded by her own personal bodyguards, known as the Black Guards, who were formidable warriors, and considered themselves above the law. Morgana was guarded by at least a dozen of the Black Guards every time she left the college - a head-on confrontation was not going to work.

They also learned that there was much unhappiness among the populace over the corruption of the nobles and the college elites, among of whom were the merchant Bertrand, who held most of the college's contracts - from supplying food, laundry, to the hiring of non-academic staff - but had not been receiving his payments as promised by the Bursar.

With these information at hand, our villains formulated their plan.

They convinced Bertrand that they would gain leverage over the Bursar and ensure that he received his payment if he could get them into the college. Thus, the day before the funeral Gearfried, posing as Bertrand's assistant, visited the Bursar at his office inside the college to try to collect on the debt, while Malus, disguised as a food deliveryman, entered the college via the service entrance.

The Bursar fobbed Bertrand off with vague promises, but during that time Gearfried was able to surmise where he kept his ledgers.

Malus meanwhile deposited the tainted onions which would cause food poisoning to the whole college, and then sneaked off to explore the grounds. He was confronted by Morgana's Butler, who ordered him to be seized and locked up in the gatehouse, where he would await his execution the next day as a suspected thief.

Back at the tavern, the party learned of Malus' fate from the town crier. They were counting on Malus' reconnaissance for information on the grounds, and now they would have to do without it.

The tainted onions did their work, and many of the college staff came down with food poisoning. A call went out to Bertrand to supply temporary staff to the college.

Zamm and Horovar were hired as guards, and at the first opportunity they tracked down Malus and freed him. Malus gave what information he had learned about the grounds to the two, and helped disguise Horovar as the Butler using the disguise kit they stole from Goncol's mansion, and afterwards, his nerves shot, he fled the college.

Zhora, Zul, and Silent entered the college as servants. Silent, using the information given to him by Gearfired, broke into the Bursar's office, stole the ledger, and left. Later, Gearfried would determine that the Bursar had in fact been diverting funds from the college to his own purse instead of paying Bertrand, and the merchant would use that information to not just get repaid in full, but also secure contracts for many years to come...

Zhora and Zul took a trolley of bed linen from the laundry room, and made their way to the academic staff quarters, where they eventually found Morgana's chamber, guarded by two Black Guards. Zhora was allowed into the chamber, where she found a weakened Morgana in bed. She offered Morgana a drugged drink, and when she fell into a deep sleep, placed the silver torc V had given them around her neck.

Just then the door to the chamber opened, and Horovar, disguised as the Butler, entered. Together, they bundled Morgana into a bedsheet, and hid her in the trolley. They then wheeled the trolley out, and rejoined Zamm and Zul.

Horovar shed his disguise and put on his guard uniform again, and together the four made their way to the wooden bridge. There, Horovar and Zamm sent the two guards away, claiming to be their relief, and opened the door to the bridge.

Zhora and Zul then began to lower Morgana to the river with a rope. At the same time, Penn, who was waiting with a boatmen they had hired, began to approach the bridge.

Their actions did not go unnoticed, and an alarm began to go out. Zamm and Horovar despatched the two guards at the far end of the bridge by throwing them over the side of the bridge, and jammed the door shut.

Guards gathered on the battlements of the college walls, but the archers were afraid of shooting for fear of harming Morgana. One by one Zhora, Zul, Horovar, and Zamm lowered themselves or jumped into the river, but not before Horovar destroyed the supports of the bridge using acid, causing the whole structure to collapse into the water.

The boatman rowed towards the harbour, but going was slow - Zamm and Zul went once more into the water, and swam for the bank.

Arriving at the bank, Zul made his way to the Great Temple, where a crowd had gathered in anticipation of the free bread and ale that would be given away at Goncol's funeral, and started a rumour that there was not enough bread for everyone. This soon led to a riot, which impeded the progress of the guards sent to intercept the boat.

The boat, now lighter, approached a stone bridge that spanned the river before it joined the Goldflow river. A thick steel chain spanned the river, cutting off their escape. Standing on the bridge were four Black Guards, and they held grappling hooks in their hands.

Penn nocked arrows to his bow, and shot at the Black Guards when they came into range. His arrows found their mark through the joints in the armour of the Black Guards, and one by one they went down. Meanwhile, Horovar set a bunch of herbs he carried with him, which let out a thick cloud of acrid smoke whaich hid them.

Horovar lowered Morgana into the water, leaving only her face above the water. Then, covering her face with the handkerchief of invisibility they stole from Goncol's vault, he drew a big breath, dove under the water, and dragged Morgana behind him as he swam to the bank.

Penn and the boatman likewise made their escape, but Zhora, too weak to swim to safety, was swept along by the current of the water, until she reached the steel chain that spanned the river.

Horovar reached the bank of the river, and here he was met by Gearfried, who had monitored their progress from the bank. Leaving Morgana to Gearfried, Horovar raced to the stone bridge and rescued Zhora.

By now the riot had escalated, and there were fires in several parts of the city, and in the chaos our villains were able to deliver the limp form of Morgana to the waiting ship at the harbour, and then vanish into the crowd...

That evening they once again met V at The Hanged Man, where they were given their promised reward, and asked to meet him again the next day, once he had extracted the information he needed.

Prepping and Running the Game

This mission was based on Kidnap the Archpriest, also by Skerples. I was first introduced to the module by a Youtube review, and had wanted to run it for the longest time - our "evil" campaign allowed me to finally do so.

I had to make several changes to the module, but I preserved the core premises: the party had to kidnap a VIP guarded by formidable warriors, alive, and bring him/her to the harbour. I also kept the map, which I believe saved me a lot of time.

Now the actual heist planning and execution took place over a session and a half, with the players abandoning their initial plan halfway and then improvising on the plan they ultimately decided on. The account above is a very abridged version of the shenanigans that they engaged in.

One thing about the original module puzzled me though. The college/castle building is connected to the Temple/Cathedral via a sheltered wooden bridge, which the priests would use to attend the ceremony at the latter site. Curiously, in the original module the Archpriest (the target of the kidnapping) is known to not be attending the event. It seemed like such a Chekov's gun that I could not bring myself to make that the case in my game, planning perhaps to later announce that Morgana had decided at the last moment to not attend, if the players did not plan to seize her when she is crossing the bridge.

Players being players, the became fixated on the bridge - which is fair as this was the one place they could be relatively sure Morgana would be passing through at a pre-known time. To make it easier for them to visualise the bridge and plan, I decided that the bridge looked like this one:

It seemed just about open enough for them to attempt to seize Morgana when she crosses the bridge, but eventually the decided that taking on a dozen Black Guards was not a viable option.

They also explored other options and did some prep work which did not end up being used, such as getting some expensive clothes and armour with the intention of disguising themselves as nobles, and scouting out the Temple grounds. Other work they did, like learning that the crowd could be incited to riot, hiring a 'transporter', and finding Bertrand the merchant and figuring out how to make use of his contact with the college, were cobbled together to form their final plan.

I was pretty happy with their eventual plan of poisoning the whole college and then infiltrating the place as temp staff, as well as their clever use of the handkerchief of invisibility to get Morgana off the boat and to the bank.

The whole heist did come close to falling apart (as it happens in heist movies) when Malus was caught, but thanks to his tempering with the lock on the doors to the college's treasury, it was assumed that he was just a thief, and I did not have to put the whole college on alert or bring forward Morgana's plans to leave.

We are just one session away from ending the campaign, but unfortunately for us new COVID restrictions mean that we will not be able to meet again until at least the middle of June.

I hope to spend this time planning my next campaign, and perhaps put up a post about creating characters for that campaign for my players, and inviting my readers to create NPCs for the campaign too. Stay tuned.

Sorcery! 2 - Magical Murder Mansion Part 2

Our villains defeated the strange water being that rose out of the fountain, and retrieved the second gold key from inside it. Then, after taking a moment to catch their breaths, they entered the hedge maze, headed to the tower at its centre.

They soon realised that the strangling vines that formed the maze shifted constantly, making it easy to lose one's way, and as they wandered through the maze, they could hear the low bellow of a huge beast stalking them. Horovar used all his skills to try to guide the party safely to the tower, but eventually he realised that to reach the tower, they would have to face the beast stalking them.

Entering a small clearing that was before the tower, they came face to face with a minotaur. Zhora and Silent leapt into attack, while Penn held back, shooting arrows at the beast. Horovar stepped behind the hedges "to summon a creature" (see PC profiles here), and soon a wolf appeared and started attacking the minotaur too. After a hard fought battle the party slew the beast; the wolf departed, and Horovar rejoined the party.

Our villains bound their wounds, and stepped up to the tower's doors. They inserted the two golden keys they have found, turned them - the door opened. Inside, they found a spiral staircase leading upwards, and also to the basement, where they knew the vault was.

Climbing the stairs to the first storey, they found Goncol's alchemical laboratory. There, they found a large clear tank on a table in the centre of the room, and at the bottom of the tank laid a third key. Forewarned by the clues left by Goncol, the party approached cautiously, and was able to determine that the clear yellow liquid inside the tank was a strong acid. Using the glass apparatus within the lab, our villains removed much of the contents of the tank and pured them onto the stone floor, which corroded part of it. Eventually they were able to lower the level of the acid sufficiently to fish the key out with a wooden pole. They were now one key away.

Continuing upwards, our villains came into Goncol's library. Here were all manner of magical tomes, and also what appeared to be Goncol's autobiography, but no golden key.

The next floor held a large chamber, with arcane patterns carved onto the floor. Near the staircase was a silver whistle hanging on a wall hook. Zhora recognised the patterns as a summoning circle, and the party wisely decided to leave the room and press onwards.

As the party entered the highest floor, they found that the walls and roof of the room was transparent. This was Goncol's astrological observatory. In the centre of the room was an astronomical model of the planets. Through the walls of the observatory the party could see the eastern sky starting to turn light - they had little time left before the king's men could arrive.

Our villains searched the room, but could not find a key. Then Penn had an idea: what if the line from the clues left by Goncol:

The other is not found upon this Earth, to find it you must return to my birth

referred to the model's position?

The party moved the model to what the planets would have looked like on the day of Goncol's birth, based on the autobiography they found in the library. when they had done so, they heard the sound of a click, and one of the planet models opened up: inside was the fourth key.

Hurry to the basement, the party opened the steel door to the vault with their four keys. The vault consisted of three rooms. In the first were held mundane treasures. In the second were several magical items and spell components, which the party pocketed. In the final chamber there was a plinth, upon which was an ivory scroll case.

Despite promising not to open the case, Horovar decided to do so. Peering inside, he found a scroll. Removing the scroll from the case, they found that it was a letter, seemingly from the last king. On the back of the page they found a hurriedly scribbled reply (see here). Returning the scroll to the case, the party made their way back to the front gate, pausing briefly only for Horovar to start a fire inside the mansion. On their way back to the city they passed the king's men, who were riding quickly towards the plume of smoke that now issued from the mansion...

That evening the party met once more at The Hanged Man. 'V' turned up as promised, received the scroll case, and paid our villains. He then gave them their second mission: to kidnap Morgana the Arch-Sorceress.

The Arch-Sorceress, who now resided in the College of Sorcery in Arkleton, he explained, was scheduled to attend Goncol's funeral at the Grand Temple of Libra in two day's time. Thereafter she will return to her tower in the hills, which was guarded by sorcery and her personal army of Blackguards, and from which any attempt to capture her would be impossible. The party had but two days to capture her, and bring her to the docks at Arkleton, where they will deliver her to a waiting ship, and receive their reward.

'V' emphasised that she was to be captured alive for questioning, and handed them a silver torc which he told them was to be placed upon Morgana's neck to prevent her from using her magic, and then left.

Prepping and Running the Game

This session is of course a continuation of the module we started the session before, and we actually went on to play the start of the module for the second mission, but for narrative purpose I will write about that in the next post.

The exploration of the dungeon was a straightforward puzzle-dungeon.

The real trap of the dungeon was actually the summoning chamber. There was no reward to be had at the chamber, but I left the set-up temptingly obvious, in the hope that Horovar's player will simply not be able to resist blowing on the silver whistle, which would have summoned a monster which the party would have to defeat in combat, something which they were in no shape to do at that point in time. I was happy to be disappointed.

There were a couple of combats this session, both against "monsters", which meant that the rules for Parrying and Dodging were not applicable. As a result we were not able to experience the full potential of the Forbidden Lands combat system, which is one of the reasons why I decided to use the rules. The next module will feature human opponents, which will allow us to try them out, but as it will be a heist scenario, there is a chance that we may play through the whole mission without combat.

Overall I have been satisfied with the rules. There are limited healing options, and playing as written the party would have been unable to progress at all at some points. Fortunately we were playing a mission with a ticking clock, so I was able to make the ruling that they could heal up at the expense of time. This will probably be something I will do for the next module too.

Sorcery! 2 - Magical Murder Mansion Part I

A rogues' gallery

As our campaign begins, our gallery of rouges are assembled in The Hanged Man, a tavern on the seedier side of Arkleton, Analand's capital.

As they waited for their prospective employer to arrive, our villains took to boasting about their latest exploits to each other.

Gearfrid, a merchant formerly from Ruddlestone, told of how he was framed by a noble and thrown into prison, but through his skills at manipulation managed to convince the guards to smuggle in some weapons for him. He armed a fellow prisoner by the name of Silent, who was then able to cut them their way out of the prison, leaving behind fifty dead prison guards.

Zul and Penn, halfling highwaymen, boasted about the rich haul they got from waylaying another noble's caravan.

Zhora, an elven necromancer, spoke of how she and her dwarven bodyguard Zamm were hired by a baron to slay a rival, whom she then animated as an undead and made march back to her employer to collect her pay.

(At this point I was worried that Analand was running out of barons and the letter Z.)

Malus the minstrel then spoke of how he sowed discord and plague among the inhabitants of a city, causing strife and countless deaths, not for silver, but for his pleasure. His companion, the quiet druid named Horovar, merely grunted.

Then just as the sun was setting, a hooded man, calling himself only 'V', came to their table, and told them that the Grand Wizard Goncol had died in "an accident", and that he wished them to retrieve a scroll from the vault in his mansion, before the place would be occupied by the king's men.

V offered each pair of our villains 150 gold pieces for retrieving the scroll, and an offer for two other jobs afterwards if they succeeded, promising a total of 500 gold pieces for each duo upon completion of all three jobs.

Our villains took the contract, and set off to gather information on their target.

By speaking to former students of Goncol's school, suppliers of his food and magical components, and dwarven masons who built his tower, they were able to ascertain the layout of the mansion, the adjoining tower and its vault, and that Goncol most likely lived alone, and had in the past procured various alchemical supplies, as well as clockwork mechanisms.

Armed with this information, Silent, Penn, Zhora, and Horovar set off for the mansion, arriving a little after midnight.

Here they found that the compound was divided into two parts: a mansion to the front, and a tower in the rear, the latter surrounded by a hedge maze.

The party attempted to enter the tower through the hedges, but Horovar reported that the hedges were strangling vines from the Forest of Snatta, and that hacking through them would be too dangerous.

The party then entered the compound by the front gate, and found a plaque upon the door of the mansion with the following lines:

If you seek to enter my tower, first find ye two keys of power.

One lies behind my greatest treasure, source of my pride, my joy, my pleasure.

The other lies in plain sight, unhidden; but woe to he who takes it unbidden.

If you wish to enter my vault, two more keys you will need by default.

Where the first is, is crystal clear, but reach for it, and it will cost you dear.

The other is not found upon this Earth, to find it you must return to my birth.

Venture into the mansion of Goncol, and you will find out I am quite the 

Wary of entering through the front doors, the party pried open a pane of glass on the window to the dining hall, and Penn the halfling climbed through, and opened the door from inside. In the main lobby they found four bronze statues depicting Goncol himself, the Arch-sorcereress Morgana, a warrior named Valerian, and an elven warrior named Glowulf. When they wondered aloud whether the statues would animate and attack them, the statues started to speak, denying that they would do so; and true to their words, they did not. The party questioned the statues, but they could provide little information.

The party then searched through the rooms in the mansion, encountering a few magical traps, but no opposition, and found various minor magical items, such as an egg-cup that cooked eggs to perfection, a wand of fruit transmutation, a salt cellar that held ten times its volume in salt, a glow globe, a couple of magical pillows, and a couple of clockwork artifacts: a musical box in the shape of a nightingale, and an alarm clock in the shape of a rooster.

Inside Goncol's bedroom, they found the Grand Wizard lying in his bed. Horovar struck at the form with his sword, only to find that it was an illusion. They searched the room, and Silent found the first key, a small golden one, in an alcove hidden behind a nude portrait of Goncol himself.

The party descended to the cellar, and found a hidden door to an underground prison. Within one of the cells was a man who looked like the statue named Valerian. The man claimed to have lost his memory from the tortures inflicted upon him by Goncol, and begged the party to release him. After some deliberation, our villains decided to do so, gave him some of the loot they had taken so far to carry, and took him outside the mansion... whereupon he bolted for the front gate. Penn reacted swiftly and put two arrows into the man's back before he could reach the gate. As he fell to the ground, dying, his form changed to that of a hideous, tentacled humanoid. Horovar moved to where he fell, but could not bring himself to deliver a killing blow - but the creature expired soon after.

Unable to locate a second key, the party decided to go into the hedge maze instead. Entering the garden that led to the maze, they found a fountain, and lying within it was a second golden key. Horovar used his sword to gently fish the key out, but as the key broke the surface of the water, the water began to move and take a humanoid form...

Prepping and Running the Game

The basis for this session is Magical Murder Mansion by Skerples.

I had originally envisioned the campaign to be three assassination missions, each of which would take place in a different environment. I thought that Morgana would be encountered in her Sorceress' Tower, and Goncol in his mansion, and so I searched for modules set in mansions, and came upon this module. In the module the occupant of the titular mansion was dead, and I thought I could work that into my storyline too.

The actual mansion in the module is much larger and had more parts to it, but I wanted a much shorter session and thus had to cut the number of rooms down. I went through the module, noted the encounters which I thought were funny or interesting, and then placed them into the rooms in the Heroic Maps mansion map which I bought a while back.

I then added minor magical items from a table in Knock #1 to locations which they would fit in. This encouraged the players to search the place, and also placed some pressure on them, as we tracked encumbrance for this game.

Then, in the finest tradition of funhouse dungeons, I composed a poem to let give the players know that they had to find keys to complete the mission, and also clues as to where they might be found.

The players were rather cautious in the first part of the game, no doubt due to their experience in our last campaign, where every room was either guarded by undead or animated statues or golems, or trapped. The four statues were of course for comic relief, but also played an important role for the whole campaign as they would allow our characters to recognise the four members of the party from the previous campaign.

They also spent time searching for loot, and trying to figure out what each magical item did. There was no real combat this session - the only time we drew cards for initiative was when the creature tried to run away, and Penn shot it... because he was carrying some of their loot. Ironically, when Horovar moved in to try to crush the creature's head with the bear trap he had, the player rolled 3 successes on him empathy check on 3 dice - you have to *fail* an empathy check to deliver a coup de grace.

The party had spent a lot of in-game time just acquiring one key, leaving them 2 or 3 hours to enter the vault and find the scroll before daybreak and the king's men would move in. There will be a couple of combats in the next game, so we will find out how fast and interesting the combat system in Forbidden Lands is.

Sorcery! 2 - The Sequel Campaign

This week, my players and I started a new campaign which is a spin-off/sequel to the Sorcery! campaign we played two years ago.

The seed for this campaign was planted at the very session of the finale of the previous campaign, after we briefly described what happened to each of the characters, and a player suggested an "evil" campaign where they play, well, evil characters. We liked the idea so much we decided to plan a slot for this campaign, but due to COVID, we had to wait until now to put it into action.

While the basic plot for the campaign came to me that very night, it took a while before I decided on what rules to use. The Advanced Fighting Fantasy rules we used for the first campaign was too simplistic for me. I wanted something with a little more crunch.

Eventually I settled on the Forbidden Lands rules, which FG had backed in one of their later kickstarters. While I think the fluff for FL is silly, their combat rules are rather interesting, and the mechanic for "pushing a roll" gives that risky, desperado feel that I think fits an evil campaign.

With that, I present you the prologue to our second Sorcery! campaign:

It is twenty years since the Crown of Kings left passed from Analand to Ruddlestone. Few know the secret that while in Analand's care, the crown was stolen by the Archmage of Mampang, and it was only through the efforts of a small band of heroes that it was retrieved before its loss was known - something which would have brought disgrace to the royal house.

In those two decades, Analand has changed, as had our heroes. 

A new king now sits upon the throne, young, and yet untried. Since the crown left, the fortunes of the kingdom has declined. Corrupt officials now sit in high offices. Criminals terrorise the countryside, and the streets of the cities, even of Arkleton, the capital, are no longer safe after sunset.

Goncol, the thief from Khare, having gained a mansion as his reward for his part in recovering the crown, opened up a school of wizardry. After an initial period of success, the school became plagued with scandals, and soon had to close down. It was said that Goncol conducted unholy experiments in the dungeons of his mansion, and one of his subject was Valerian, the former captain of the Royal Guard sent on the same mission with him, but who turned against his king and swore fealty to the Archmage of Mampang instead. Rumour has it that Valerian, broken by the horrendous experiments done on him, eventually managed to escape from the dungeon. It is not known if he had help from the staff in the mansion, but Goncol became paranoid, and gradually dismissed all of them, choosing instead magical servants, and putting his trust in traps and magical guardians to keep himself safe from any revenge by Valerian.

Morgana the Sorceress received for her service a tower in the hills, which she fortified with many magical wards and a small army of loyal guards. She rose in the hierarchy of the College of Sorcerers in Arkelton, eventually becoming the Arch-Sorceress. But once she had attained that title, she took little interest in that job, leaving most of the duties of the position to the deans of the college, and spending most of her time in her fortress.

Little is known of what happened to the last member of the party, the Black Elf Glowulf, who was said to have asked for a modest reward, and thereafter returned to his village and became a simple fisherman.

Now, the people of Analand wait anxiously for the return of the crown of kings to the land, hoping that it will bring a new golden age to the kingdom.

In a dark tavern in Arkleton, the new heroes - nay, villains - of our tale also wait for their contact, for it seems that someone had brought together the most notorious criminals of the city, for some nefarious purpose...

Cast of Villains

Zhora, Elven Death Sorcerer. Once an orphan who lived on the streets of Arkleton, her destiny changed when she found a strange skull staff that awakened her magical talents. Her companion is Zamm, a dwarven warrior, trained to be a bodyguard to a noble, but now protects the necromancer.

Gearfried, a trader from Ruddlestone, ran a successful business in Analand, until he was framed by a nobleman and thrown into prison. Here, he befriended Silent, the assassin, and together they escaped and started their life of crime.

Malus, the flamboyant minstrel, a homicidal psychopath, who travels with Horovar, a Druid from foreign lands who had come to Analand for his own unknown goal.

Zul the Sorcerer, and Penn the Hunter, a pair of halfling highwaymen.