Mail call,Madmen,Mayhem, More Swords & Strangeness - Actual Play Adventure Event

Excuse me if I seem like I'm a bit late with this blog entry, my Saturday evening game went fine last night. The PC's have rescued the villagers of one of the PC's & former slaves from the clutches of the White Skull Formorians which gave them lots of trouble two weeks ago. The PC's hustled them out of the Roman style manor to get them healed up and sorted back in Tegel village. On the way back to the village the PC's found frost bite on some of the villagers in the shape of giant hands.


Outside of the manor the PC's found a wagon & some horses left by a knight, his party of retainers, etc. who left the area for another nearby dungeon. They took it & along with the supplies they found in the back of it. The PC's got the villagers to a healer at a local temple of Ymir & then went to get some of their treasure evaluated by a local pawn broker. Sal'iar Mar'reus is a local Esquimaux pawn broker & head of the thieves guild for the area. Within the pawn shop were the treasures from not only Tegel manor but from across the solar system wherever adventurers had stopped. There were several items from the Manor that were liberated by Sir Tristan & his group last time the party was there. There were also five or six purple crystals from the The Islands of Purple-Haunted Putrescence.

Esquimaux
A confrontation between Sal'iar Mar'reus & the PC's also revealed several items from Liberation  of the Demon Slayer adventure but that was more of an Easter egg nod to my other players in the past. Meanwhile several exchanges with the PC's brought in Sir Rump and the local Amazon peace officer and her goon squad. We got a sort of Quark/Odo dynamic going last night with the pawn broker backing down and giving the shaman the items after he revealed the deed.


Our shaman also noticed several rare treasures from the land of Lomar, which was besieged by an enemy known as the Inutos. This might indicate the pawnbroker's connections with the Inutos & raiders from some nearby islands. The village of Tegel is a mix of Roman & Viking styles with a sprinkling of Hyperborean influences along with Amazon/Kimmeri-Kelt.

The pawn broker gave up the artifacts but this leaves the question of where Sir Tristan's party went and why. One artifact that the PC's saw but were unable to get was a rare hammer belonging to the maggot dwarfs of Underboreas recovered from their abode
Myrkheim. There is a cult of murderous madmen on a nearby island that serve the horrid creatures & their icy dark masters.


All of this ties in quite nicely with the fact that yesterday Mark Taormino of Maximum Mayhem Dungeons sent me a copy of Vault of the Dwarven King. Which I'm going to modifying, twisting, and adjusting so that I can run this adventure in my sword & strangeness Old Solar System setting. The plot is very much in the Maximum Mayhem style;
"The Dwarven King of Brundurum has summoned you to his throne room within the Smokey Mountain. Brave souls are needed for a noble quest into the depths of the earth to retrieve the legendary hammer known as Fireheart. But beware - the Goblin King and his evil hordes believe the hammer woke a Lava Titan and they will seek to possess it at all costs. Who is telling the truth? Who is really kin to this ultimate weapon? What secret powers are at play in this tale of suspicion, intrigue and betrayal? "

If you haven't picked this one up I strongly suggest that you do the writing, artwork,&  quality are top notch. Its a very well done module with a strong AD&D 1st edition vibe with
Mark Taormino & co. twists and turns to it. You can see the quality and artwork in this photo which is on its side so my players can't figure out some of the tricks and traps in the adventure.